Children In Charge 2
by Pixel and Stephanie Forever
Summary: After a devistating attack cripples Voyager and kills nearly everyone onboard, it is left to Naomi, her friends and the Doctor to travel back to the Alpha Quadrant and complete the crew's mission to return home. But the question is: Can they make it?
1. Endings And Beginings

**Endings And Beginings**

Naomi Wildman sat watching the stars pass by _Voyager_ as they sped through the endless cosmos. Her friend Mezoti was brushing her hair as they did most days that they spent playing together.

"I wonder what Earth is like" Naomi said absently.

"Earth is an M Class planet in sector 001" Mezoti said.

"I know that" Naomi had the feeling she was being teased. "But I wonder what Earth is like to live on" the girl added.

"Have you not tried the holodeck programs?" her friend asked.

"Oh, of course I've done that. But it isn't the same as actually landing on a planet" Naomi said. Mezoti finished her work and then thought about what had been said.

"I too have been thinking of much the same thing. Though we face many years ahead in our journey home, I have heard many of the crew speak of Earth – or any of the other planets in the Federation" and the former Borg child smiled. "I am sure that we will find it agreeable" she joked.

"I think so too" Naomi said. They watched the stars streak by for a little while longer, and then they decided to leave so they could get something to eat in the Mess Hall. Mezoti had only just picked up her intricate hairbrush when the ship shuddered violently and sent both girls spinning to the deck.

"_RED ALERT! ALL HANDS TO REPORT TO EMERGENCY STATIONS!_" Captain Janeway's voice filled the room. The ship shuddered as both girls raced out of the viewing deck and towards the nearest place of safety – Naomi's quarters on the deck below them. As they rushed to the turbolift, one of the corridor walls blew outwards with an explosive force and rained bits of panel and conduit on the pair.

# # # # #

"Hull breach on Deck 8" Kim shouted from Ops. "Force fields are offline in some parts"

"Put them up where you can, and vent the atmosphere into space" Janeway ordered.

"Shields are at 75% and failing" Tuvok reported as the ship shuddered again.

"Bring the ship about and engage the ships astern of us" Chakotay ordered, and the ship shuddered more violently as consoles exploded all over the bridge and smoke poured out of the damaged workstations.

"That last hit took out our starboard impulse engine" Paris said. "I'll have to do this the old fashioned way" he said, and he fired full thrusters to turn starboard whilst reversing the sole working impulse engine.

"Locked on" reported Tuvok.

"Fire!" and the crew watched as the phasers lanced out the ship, struck the enemy vessels and did nothing to slow them down.

"Report"

"Our weapons are ineffective" replied the Vulcan.

"If we take another hit in the aft section of the shields, then we'll lose all our ability to move" said Torres.

"Can we warp?"

"No" came the curt reply. "They've knocked out the power relays to the nacelle controls. We still have warp power, but we can't engage the drive" and Janeway started to think about doing the one thing that she despised having to do.

"Harry. Signal the lead ship that we'll surrender" and there was a pause as he hesitated before sending the message. The reply came with a volley from all three ships they faced.

"Hull breaches on Decks 2 through 9" Torres said. "We've lost all main power, our phasers are gone and shields are next to useless" she added.

"We've no chance of getting away from them" Paris said.

"There's only one thing we can do" said Janeway.

"I fear you are right" said Chakotay.

"Computer, begin Auto-Destruct Sequence" ordered the captain.

'_Auto-Destruct is offline_'

"I'm detecting transporter traces on all decks" Kim said. "They're sending over some kind of pathogen" and he stopped as a choking feeling came over him. He coughed and spluttered with the rest of the crew as they were poisoned by the enemy ships.

# # # # #

"What… what happened?" asked Naomi as she came around. Mezoti was busy trying to open the door to the room they were in.

"_Voyager_ was attacked by vessels" the girl replied. "I am uncertain as to who they are" she added.

"Where are we?" Naomi sat up and felt her head carefully.

"We are in a weapons room" Mezoti said as she gave up on opening the door. "This door panel is inoperable. We shall have to wait for someone to come and get us" and she helped Naomi to sit on a crate.

"What happened to us?" asked the first born of _Voyager_.

"You were knocked unconscious by the explosion. I too was thrown to the deck, but I managed to stay active. When it became clear that there was a hull breach and that the air was venting into space, I found us a refuge of sorts in the Armoury. Mr Tuvok told me once that it is stronger then other places like crew quarters" and Naomi took all of this in.

"Have you tried to contact the bridge?" she asked.

"I have indeed. However, it seems that internal communications are offline" replied her friend. "We should be safe enough here until help arrives" added Mezoti.

"I have a bad feeling about this" Naomi said. Mezoti was about to say that it was illogical about having feelings like this, but she knew that it had saved them and others on occasion. She remembered Naomi's leadership during the time that the crew had been abducted. "Do you think that there is air outside?" Naomi questioned.

"I am uncertain. There might be, but the likelihood of this is extremely low"

"Well we have to do something to make sure that people find us" Naomi said. She looked around and saw racks of phasers and a few hazmat suits. In one corner stood a pair of spacesuits – stored there for an unknown reason. "Lets put these on, and then we can get out of here" the girl explained.

"But the door will not open" Mezoti said.

"But what if we cut our way through the door or the bulkhead?" Naomi said. The other girl thought about this for a moment and then agreed that it was a better option then sitting and doing nothing when others might be in danger. The suits were designed for adults, but they at least had protection against possible vaccum. They both took a couple of phasers and fired at the door until each phaser was discharged and empty.

# # # # #

"We must find a member of the crew" said Icheb.

"We will have to walk around the damage" said the Doctor. "From what sensors are working, there is major damage to all decks and not everywhere has power or life support. Fortunately though, it appears as if there is a path from here to a turbolift on the other side of this deck" and Icheb frowned slightly.

"Then we had better start" he said. "Can you tie yourself into the internal sensors? No offence intended, but you are part of the computer and so you should be able to detect the nearest members of crew" and the Doctor did so as he transferred himself to his Mobile Emitter. As they were about to leave, the pair grabbed a few emergency medical kits in case they encountered injured persons along the way. While Icheb didn't have medical training, he did have the knowledge of many doctor stored in his mind whilst being a Borg. To their surprise they found not a single person heading in their direction for treatment, nor any Damage Control parties. The Doctor hadn't found any crew members on sensors, though there was a slight weapons discharge reading a few decks below them. As there was no indication of intruders on board, the hologram disregarded this report. He and Icheb boarded the turbolift and headed up to the bridge.

# # # # #

"The door is surprisingly strong" said Mezoti.

"Remind me to file a letter of complaint to Starfleet Command" Naomi muttered. She backed up a little before giving the door a kick. It wobbled on the frame for a moment before falling into the corridor outside. The two girls saw the immense devastation that a hull breach could do, and conduits, relays and other things sparked and fizzed at them.

"This does not bode well" said Mezoti over the com-link.

"I don't see any bodies" Naomi said. "With something this big, you'd expect bodies" and the two made their way slowly and carefully down the corridor in spacesuits too big for them to wear normally. Each of the girls carried a phaser in their hands. They were not supposed to use them, but neither knew if there were any enemies onboard _Voyager_. When the pair reached the turbolift, Naomi pressed the button and a car came and admitted them entry.

"Should we take off the helmets?" asked Mezoti.

"Better not" Naomi said. "We don't know if we would have to put them back again"

"I do not know where we should go" said Mezoti. "We can not reach your quarters as the damage is most likely reaching that point at least. I suggest that we attempt to get to sickbay" and her friend agreed.

"Sickbay" she called out, but the turbolift car didn't move at all. "Sickbay" Naomi repeated.

"The vocal command features seem to be offline. Try the manual override" said Mezoti. Naomi nodded and tapped out her destination in manually.

'_That location does not contain a breathable atmosphere_' reported the computer. To the girls, it sounded like that wasn't working properly either.

"Bridge!" they said at the same time. Naomi tapped it in, and the car lurched upwards, stopped, and then started again upwards.

"This doesn't bode well _at all_" Naomi said. The car shook slightly as it made a slow journey upwards, and the pair knew that the ship was losing more of its hull – both outer and inner hulls.

"Do you think that we'll find anyone on the bridge?" asked Mezoti as they neared Deck 1.

"We'll find out" said Naomi grimly, and she checked all of her phasers. She might still be a little girl, but she would not let any nasty aliens take over _Voyager_ while she could help it. Her best friend did the same as the turbolift car came up and stopped at the highest area of the ship possible.

# # # # #

"If sensors are correct" said the Doctor, "Then we are about to have visitors" he and Icheb stood at the turbolift and aimed phasers from the bridge locker at the doors.

# # # # #

"HALT!" came the collective shout. The four looked at each other with stunned faces, before dropping all of their weapons.

"Miss Wildman" said the Doctor, "I am glad to see you"

"What happened here?" asked Mezoti.

"The ship was attacked by vessels unknown" said the Doctor. "I was surprised to have no injuries coming to sickbay, even though I had been informed about them" he said, and he gave the girls a hand in getting out of their suits.

"Well at least you survived" said Naomi pointing at Icheb. "But what are these piles of dust?" she asked – indicating the piles in front and behind various stations and around the bridge.

"The nearest pile is Lieutenant Commander Tuvok" said the former Borg drone.

"What?" Naomi began to panic. "What about Mom?" she asked.

"I'm afraid she is dead" Icheb said quietly. "The attacking ships blew down the shields and transported a pathogen on board. Every member not affected by this was killed and turned into dust" he said.

"So why are we alive?" Naomi asked. The grief of losing her mother and most of her friends was quite painful, but the girl knew that she had to stay together in order to help her remaining friends.

"Myself and Mezoti have protection from our remaining Borg implants. I do not have any idea why you have survived" Icheb said.

"Naomi was knocked unconscious by the opening of the attack" Mezoti replied. "I dragged her into a Armoury where we awaited rescue. After there was none, and after Naomi had come round, we donned spacesuits and phasered the door off. Sickbay was cut off, so we came here" and then she put a comforting arm around her friend.

"Thanks" Naomi sniffed.

"Our first course of action should be to determine if we can restore sensors" said the Doctor. "I'm only a Doctor of course, but I think we'd like to know if they come back to finish us off" he added.

"I will go down to engineering and see what can be done" Icheb said.

"I will attempt to reach Sickbay and gather medical supplies. With the damage sustained, I don't think we'll be using that any time soon" the Doctor said. "I'll get the twins to help if they manage to finish with the alcoves" and Naomi cheered up with the news the twins had also survived.

"Who is in charge?" asked Mezoti.

"I am the oldest person here" Icheb said.

"But the Doctor is in Starfleet…sort of" Naomi said.

"We could ask the computer" said the Doctor.

"It works up here?" Naomi asked in surprise. She explained that the computer was picking up their voices down below.

"The bridge has its own computer voice pickup" said the Doctor. "Computer?" and there was a soft chirping sound. "Go ahead" he said to the other three.

"Computer, based on recent events, who is in charge of the _USS Voyager_?" asked Icheb.

'_Commander Naomi Wildman_' it replied.

**A/N:**

**And so ends the first chapter of the new series of mine (well technically its Paramount's series, but after what they did to the franchise with ST 11, I'm claiming Voyager as compensation – dispensation made to the Enterprise v Narada scenes).**

**Characters that doesn't seem to get a lot of fanfic time are the children on Voyager. Indeed, I lobbied to place tags for Azan, Rebi and Mezoti on the Voyager subsection! Anyways… This follows on from Children In Charge, and will now form a two part series as they attempt to repair Voyager and get back to the Alpha Quadrant. Note: There is even a few call backs to the events of Children In Charge as the fic goes on.**

**Now before you say that Voyager never had a lounge like I've said, there is a bank of windows on the lower section of the Primary Hull, and forward of the Aeroshuttle. After talking to someone who knows about the ST ships, I suspect this is where it is located! I am open to other ideas as I am to someone telling me where Naomi (and her mother's) quarters are!**

**My plan for the next chapter shall be to begin damage assessments, burial services for the crew and a few other things which try to make it realistic as much as possible.**

**I hope this meets with approval, and is liked as much as the first one.**

**Regards**

**Robert**

**(Next HP fic release is delayed pending writing issues)**


	2. Repairs, Goodbyes And Drama

**Repairs, Goodbyes And Drama**

**A/N: Just a repost to clear up a few spelling mistakes**

"How?" asked Naomi. "How am I in charge of _Voyager_?" she questioned the computer.

'_A commission was given to Naomi Wildman to the rank of Commander by Captain Kathryn Janeway_' replied the computer.

"But that was over a year ago" said a confused Icheb.

"Perhaps Captain Janeway forgot to rescind Naomi's commission" suggested Mezoti. "It was a busy time after we rescued you and the crew from the Quagaars. Perhaps in the rush of getting _Voyager_ repaired, this was missed off her list of things to do" she added.

"That is logical" Icheb accepted.

"So what do we do, Commander Wildman?" asked the Doctor.

"We should get a complete damage report, and then work to get communications, shields and propulsion online first. After that, we should determine if we can land the ship. If we can, then we should do it – that way we can reduce power to the SIF" Naomi said. They nodded at this, and they worked at rerouting communications through the ship by using the shuttles. Once they had done this, Icheb contacted the twins and asked Azan and Rebi to bring what they had to the mess hall. This made sense as there was a turbolift nearby, that part of the deck was undamaged and it had supplies of food and potable liquids stored there. Naomi and Mezoti began compiling the extent of the damage whilst the Doctor and Icheb set about making the bridge's engineering station usable.

# # # # #

"This will take forever to fix" Naomi said as she threw the PADD onto the table top in the mess hall. "We'd need a full shipyard to fix this amount of damage" and there was an air of uneasiness.

"Our first priority after getting shields and propulsion back online should be the hull" said Icheb. "I was able to pull up a list of what we are carrying in the cargo bays, and we have enough hull plates to do the outside of the ship. That way we would be able to land at least" and they looked at Naomi.

"I suppose that's what we should do" she agreed. "At least we would have the advantage of turning off the Artificial Gravity. That should save a lot of power" and the Doctor nodded.

"I would like to suggest that we use the shuttles to carry the heavy equipment outside" he said. "Icheb here and myself could fly them, and you four could just screw it into place" and so they made plans to do that – once they found a suitable place to land.

"How long until we can get impulse online?" Mezoti asked.

"At least fifteen hours" said the Doctor. "The trouble is not the damage as such, but we have to test the replacement parts before going to full power" and Icheb said that if he could get to the holodeck, then he could run a simulation at a fast speed – that way they could anticipate things quickly. Rebi shot that idea down when he announced that the holodecks had all blown out.

"We should aim to get the ship manoeuvrable first" said Azan.

"We're not going very far with only one impulse engine" said Naomi. "Lets attempt to get to Engineering and fix stuff from there" so after finishing the first thing they had eaten in hours, they went along corridors, and went through and down the Jefferies tubes all the way down to Deck 10. The only that didn't seem tired was the Doctor due to his hologramatic state.

When they reached engineering, they found more piles of dust and debris scattered all over the deck. Most of the consoles displayed error messages, but the large schematic of _Voyager_ was completely blank. The warp core was online, but they shut this down as they didn't know if the safeties would suddenly go offline with no warning. This was about the only thing they could do with the limited consoles working. A stroke of luck was finding that the small portable repair kits were together, and that cutting torches were where they were supposed to be. This would allow the Doctor to cut through the debris whilst the others began work on other parts of the ship. After three days solid work, with very little rest, they managed to get shields and sensors back online. This enabled them to at least see what was around them, and they discovered an M Class planet a quarter of a light year away. As the main bridge was virtually unusable, they used the Battle Bridge in order to pilot the ship. Everyone took turns at helm, and they all took turns keeping Naomi's mind off the death of her mother and the members of the crew she knew well – which accounted to every one of them.

When they had achieved orbit, they began to replace the hull plates so that they could enter the atmosphere and land on the planets surface. They spent an extra day afterwards checking and rechecking everything as this wasn't something they wanted to miss any cracks on.

# # # # #

"The Doctor reports that the nacelles have been vented of plasma, and that atmospheric controls are online and standing by" Azan said.

"Hull integrity is at 75%" Mezoti said. "It will not be pretty, but at least we will be able to land" she added.

"I guess this is our time" Naomi said. "Can you take the helm please, Icheb?" she requested.

"Aye, Commander" and he crossed the battle bridge and sat at the helm console.

"You can call me Naomi, Icheb" Naomi said with a small smile.

"It would not be proper for a member of the crew to refer to you by your first name" said Icheb, turning round to look back at her.

"Well we're hardly a proper crew" came the reply, "And if everyone keeps doing this 'Commander' stuff, then I'll go crazy" and Icheb nodded and then turned back to his console.

"Helm ready" he said.

"Engineering and Ops ready" said Mezoti. She and the twins had shared out the duties of engineering and Ops between themselves.

"Take us down" said Naomi.

"Affirmative" Icheb said, and he started work at his console to land _Voyager_. The ship shuddered quite a bit, and parts of the outer hull came flying off, but at least they made it through the entry sequence in more or less piece.

"Report!" ordered Naomi.

"We are holding at 40,000 ft and circling a mountain range which extends for some distance" Icheb said.

"How's the ship doing?"

"We lost some of the hull, and the navigational array is offline" Azan said.

"Are we able to land?" asked Naomi.

"Yes" said Mezoti. "Landing strut controls are passed to helm"

"Acknowledged" said Icheb. There was yet another shudder as the legs locked into place, and he brought the ship lower over the surface.

"I have located a suitable landing area" Rebi announced. "There is nothing around it for several miles" and he passed the coordinates on to Icheb who steered for them. Cutting the engines, he used the thrusters to bring them down as gently as possible.

"Brace for landing" Naomi muttered, and with a heavy bump, _Voyager_ had landed on the planet's surface. "Lock off the exhaust ports, and secure your stations" and Naomi thought that she sounded like Captain Janeway. She hoped that she and her mother were both proud of her.

"Shall we begin repairs?" asked Rebi.

"No…" Icheb said. "We would do well to consume food before getting rest. We can set the computer to alert us to any problems" and so after they had done a few minor tasks, they left the battle bridge and went to the mess hall where they found that the Doctor was already starting to prepare them a meal.

"Congratulations on your first landing" said the hologram as they entered. "After you have eaten and gone for rest, I'll get the repairs started by calling up the holograms of the crew and getting them to deal with it. I will work in the holodeck and sort through what we can salvage" and the children agreed that it would be better for the Doctor to do it as he could operate with a detachment that none of them could ever manage. After he had served them the meal, the Doctor left to start his task. Because of the amount of debris, they had used the holodecks as storage areas to store it all. The Doctor could therefore work there while a different hologram affected repairs to the ship. There two other reasons why this was better. The first was that a hologram could work without a pause, while the second was that if Naomi saw her mother, Seven, Janeway or others, then she would lose the grip on her emotions.

# # # # #

Harry Potter leaned over and kissed Hermione tenderly on the lips. She blushed a bright red as he took her hand and led her out of the room.

"STOP!" shouted Naomi. Mezoti looked up and then tapped a few buttons on her PADD.

"Do you not like the Harry Potter book collection?" she asked.

"I do" replied Naomi, "But I think this is a little bit too adult for us" and Mezoti looked down at the PADD again.

"Perhaps you are right" the girl replied. "Shall we go over the repair estimates again?" and Naomi nodded and the pair began working. The Doctor had forbidden Naomi to work on the repairs as the girl had eaten and slept little for one whole week. She was supposed to relax, but none of the books in audio form had taken her fancy – except the Harry Potter series.

"How long do you think we'll have to spend on here?" asked Naomi.

"Icheb says that we might be ready by the middle of next week" Mezoti said. "He and the Doctor have brought all the sensors, deflectors and shields online. They have also replaced all of the warp coils so we will have warp. Azan and Rebi have been converting the debris into usable metals" and Mezoti paused before going slightly pink.

"What?" asked Naomi.

"I asked them to place the door we cut off in storage" her friend replied. "When we get to Earth, we should have the evidence to give to Starfleet Command" and Naomi laughed for the first time in a while as she remembered what she had said about the door.

"I'll go crazy if I stay in here any longer" she said, and with that the pair of them went up to the newly restored bridge and went over the consoles – checking each station as they went. Naomi was surprised to see three of _Voyager_'s shuttles coming towards the shuttle bay. "What are they doing out there?" but it wasn't Mezoti that replied.

"I sent them out on a mapping mission" said Icheb. "With us staying here for a while longer, I took the chance to send shuttles out on automatic pilot to map the surface for our databanks. They have come up with some interesting highlights" he said.

"Such as?"

"The planet has no other persons on it, and there are large amounts of dilithium in caves which extend for a maximum of one mile below the surface" and this peaked Naomi's interest.

"Have you started to mine it?" she asked. "If we stocked up on the stuff now, then we just have to swap the new crystals for the old ones when they've drained" and Icheb nodded.

"The Doctor is mining it now" he replied. The former drone looked at Naomi oddly. "I was under the impression that the Doctor had said you were not to work"

"Work is helping me to get through this, Icheb" Naomi said.

"That is illogical" he replied. "It was work that was getting you ill" and Naomi shook her head.

"Trust me when I say that it helps. Now about these repairs… we've done everything on the outside, and repaired damage to all the critical systems right?" she asked.

"That is correct" said Icheb.

"Then we should begin preparations to get under way" said Naomi. "But after we have had the funeral service though" and everyone agreed to that. As there was a few hours to go, Naomi took a shuttle and she went off to a place on the western continent which Icheb had said was like the forest in the Flotter stories. How he knew what it looked liked was a secret he guarded closely, but the girl was certain she had seen and heard Flotter on a PADD he was reading one day. She giggled at the thought of Icheb reading something 'irrelevant'. Perhaps living and knowing Naomi had started to rub off on him. She spent some time exploring the forest, and then returned to _Voyager _with some samples of soil, flora and fauna. She stored them in one of the science labs and then went to her newly restored quarters to dress for later on. When she entered, Naomi kept seeing her mother, but the Doctor had assured her that this was only natural to happen for some time.

# # # # #

They gathered in Holodeck 1 for the service, and the Doctor stood in front of them next to a pile of silver canisters. They stood in respectful silence as the Federation anthem was played, before sitting down for the Doctor to start. Whilst they could have used the mess hall, the group decided that it wasn't respectful to the memories of the dead to hold a funeral service in the kitchen of your home.

"We are gathered here today to pay our respects to our honoured dead" began the Doctor. Rebi had thoughtfully called up a dress uniform for him to wear, and had added it to his program. "They were killed in the line of duty by an unknown enemy, and we shall remember that they died doing exactly what they wanted to do" and the Doctor paused as he tapped a holographic button.

'_Attention On Deck_' intoned the computer.

"We remember those people in a time honoured way. Crewman Chell" and the computer rang an old sailing ship's bell. "Crewman Telsia Murphy, Crewman Rick Berman, Crewman Austin Chang, Crewman…" as the Doctor said each name, the corresponding canister was transported to a grave a few hundred metres from the ship. When the Doctor finished, a small number of canisters remained and he looked to the watching group. "I invite anyone who knew these people to come and say a few words" and there was a pause before Icheb broke away and spoke about Seven of Nine. He spoke of how she had helped him and the others to gain their individuality as she had once done so herself. He also spoke about Tuvok, saying that he had helped him a great deal with his work to enter Starfleet Academy. When he had finished, he tapped the console and the bell tolled again as the three canisters were beamed away. Azan talked about Chakotay and Neelix and what he had done for them all, and Rebi talked about B'lanna Torres and Tom Paris. Mezoti was next, and spoke about Harry Kim. She told of the time that he had given her the hair that she now owned, saying that it belonged to a friend of his who wouldn't be that upset about it being used by someone with pretty hair. When she was done, the Doctor spoke about Captain Janeway and how she had dedicated herself to getting her crew home. He promised that wherever she was now, she could easy in the knowledge that some of the people on board would continue her mission and that he would look over them as she had with the crew. As the canister containing most of her mortal remains vanished, the computer tolled the bell eight times in a programmed deference to her position as Captain. Then it was Naomi's turn, and she took a deep breath before beginning.

"My mother was the nicest person you could meet. Even if she was very busy with work, she would always take a few moments to come down and speak to me. Sometimes we would braid each other's hair in silly patterns and sometimes we went to the holodecks to play the Flotter programs or she would show me things from when she was a little girl… I want her to know that I miss her, and I hope that she is proud of me. I promise to get my friends to Earth safely" she put out a hand and tapped the console. As it the canister was bathed in the blue light of the transporter, the computer played a boson's whistle.

'_Attention on deck_' it said. '_Ensign Samantha Wildman, departing_' and Naomi looked from the Doctor to the ex-borg. It was clear that they had programmed the computer to do that.

"May the Great Bird Of The Galaxy watch over us" said the Doctor, and with that the service was over.

"What are your plans for the rest of the day?" asked Mezoti as the group filed out of the holodeck.

"I plan to eat something and then sleep for a little while" Naomi said.

"I intend to complete a few repairs to Sickbay" said the Doctor. "Some of the medical scanners are out of alignment"

"Would you like some assistance?" asked Icheb.

"Thank you" said the Doctor. He and Icheb went off as the twins went off to regenerate. Naomi went down to her quarters whilst Mezoti went up to engage the artificial gravity generators as it would take a few hours to bring them up to full power. After she had done that, Mezoti went down to one of the science labs and began working on analysing the samples that Naomi had collected earlier. As she had said before, she liked bugs a lot.

# # # # #

"Computer, locations of everyone on _Voyager_ apart from me" Naomi said.

'_Mezoti is in Science Lab 2, Azan and Rebi are in Cargo Bay 2, Icheb and the EMH are in Sickbay_' it said promptly, and the girl had a thought.

"Lock on to my comm badge and initiate a site to site transport to the secondary sickbay. Authorisation: Flotter T Water III" and her quarters winked out and replaced with the darkness of the back up sickbay. It had never been used much, as far as Naomi knew, but she knew where everything was in it. It had been designed to be used as a kind of back up to the main one, if the main sickbay reached capacity, but after the death of all the medical personal it had not been used much – except to treat a few burned crewmen from engineering. "Computer, increase lighting to 30%" and the room became a bit more brighter. She went over to where the hyposprays were kept. Whilst the standard ones were present, Naomi had made a number of special ones for her use kept behind the wheeled trolley in an access port. She had made a dozen of them and had mixed Animazine, Dalaphaline, Formazine and Impedrezene together. The last of these was a poison, but it allowed her to forget, and the stimulents made sure she was always awake when she wanted to be. It helped to take away the pain of her mother's death. When she felt the sadness and the grief, she would sneak down and inject herself. She took one of them from its hiding place and placed it against her neck, pressing down on the button as she did so. It stung a little bit and it hissed as it delivered the drugs into her body. A wave of dizzyness hit her for a moment, and she kept still until it was almost over. She put the hypospray into the replicator to be placed back into the common pool of solid material for the general use of the entire ship. She had the computer transport her to the bridge. The waves of dizzyness hit her again – more strongly as it had ever done before. As she went to Ops, she felt a sharp pain in her chest and with one last disorintating spell of dizzyness, the bridge went black and Naomi fell face first into the deck.

# # # # #

"I will see you later" said Mezoti, and she left Sickbay to take up her four hours on the bridge. She took the turbolift to the bridge, and found she couldn't see her friend anywhere. As she stepped out onto the bridge fully, she looked to her left and saw Naomi on the deck and not moving. "NAOMI!" she shouted, and rushed over and turned her on to her back. Her face was as white as snow, and Mezoti tapped her comm badge. "Mezoti to the Doctor" she said.

"_Doctor here_" came the reply. "_Is there something I can do for you?_" he asked.

"Medical Emergency. I've found Naomi face down on the deck. I don't know what to do" Mezoti said in a panic.

"I'm on my way" he said, and he closed the channel. He appeared moments later on the bridge via transporter beam – using the medical override. He pulled out his tricorder and waved it over the motionless Naomi. "She has a few odd things in her blood" he muttered. "And her brain has a few…" he trailed off. "Transport me and Naomi to Sickbay at once" the Doctor ordered. Mezoti did so and then called up Icheb and asked him to take her place – she would do his hours instead. She rushed down to Sickbay where the Doctor whirled various instrements around and over Naomi's still form.

"How is she?" asked the girl.

"She is lucky that you found her when you did" said the Doctor. "According to my scans, she has been taking a cocktail of different drugs from the medical supplies" and Mezoti stood and watched as the Doctor did his work.

"Will she be alrght?" the girl asked.

"Yes, but from the amount in her blood stream, I can only conclude she has been taking the injections from the time of the attack" and he did his work for so long, that Mezoti had to leave as she didn't want to get in the Doctor's way – or least that's what she was telling herself. She went up to the bridge and found that it was 4 hours since she had found Naomi on the deck of the bridge.

"You were on time" said Icheb, rising out of the First Officer's seat.

"I am sorry if I disturbed your planned activities, but Naomi needed medical attention" Mezoti said. "According to the Doctor, she has been taking a number of drugs via hypospray since the evening after the attack. If I had not found her when I did, she would most likely have died" and Icheb looked thoughtful.

"This would explain why her eyes were red sometimes" he said, and he excused himself before heading down to Sickbay. Mezoti began her four hour shift on the bridge, and checked sensors for the latest information on the planet. Whilst they waited to depart she had thought it best to gather as much information as possible. After she set the sensors to automatic scanning, she did a complete survey of the remaining damage that needed to be repaired. After that, she sat in the First Officer's chair and worked on a few things on the main screen. As the time ticked on, Mezoti's thoughts drifted down four decks to where Naomi was undergoing treatment. All this could have been avoided if _Voyager_had never been attacked. She used the science station to go over the sensor logs of the battle, and the weapons signatures from the damaged hull plates, to look for any clues as to the attackers. That way, they could develop some new shield modulations and a few tactics for the event they met their attackers again. Azan was just taking over when Mezoti's comm badge twittered.

"_Doctor to Mezoti_"

"Go ahead"

"_Please report to Sickbay_"

"I'm on my way"

**A/N:**

**Another chapter for your enjoyment.**

**This one done in less then 14 hours of non stop work!**

**There are a few references inside this chapter, so note them in your reviews. To make it harder, I am not saying where they are from!**

**Hope to get more then 4 reviews this time around**

**Regards**

**Pixel**


	3. Departures And Kidnappings

**Departures And Kidnappings**

"Naomi?" Mezoti asked as she walked in.

"Mez… Mezoti?" Naomi said from the biobed she was on.

"You had me worried about you" Mezoti said. "Why did you do this to yourself?" she asked.

"I didn't want to feel upset from my mom's death, so I thought that if I took enough medicene, then I wouldn't be hurt that much" Naomi said, and she turned to look at the Doctor. "I'm sorry" the girl apologised.

"Its understandable" replied the Doctor, "But you should have come and seen me" he added. Naomi looked as if she would burst into tears. "Well due to my pure genius and skill, you may leave Sickbay now. But you are not to do any work for a few days – give the sadness time to pass" and he helped the girl off the biobed.

"Shall we go to the bridge?" Mezoti asked.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" asked the Doctor.

"We are getting ready to depart" said the former borg drone.

"I see" said the hologram, and he really did. Naomi wanted to be on the bridge to say a last goodbye. "With your permission, Commander, I would like to join you on the bridge" and Naomi frowned at him, and then she switched to a feral grin.

"Computer – deactivate EMH" and the Doctor vanished from view.

"Run" and Naomi and Mezoti ran out and to the turbolift. They took it all the way up to the bridge, and as it did so, Naomi prepared herself for what had to be done.

# # # # #

The doors opened up, and the girls stepped out and Azan stood out of respect to Naomi.

"Stand easy" smiled the girl as Azan had stiffened to attention. She wasn't sure if he was doing this though Starfleet protocol or if the others hadn't decided to tease her slightly.

"Has all the cargo been stored?" Mezoti asked.

"Yes" Azan replied. "I was about to inform you of this" he added.

"Very well" and Naomi inspected a few of the bridge consoles – just to tease him back. It had taken some time, but the twins had been able to develop a sense of humour. Naomi tapped her comm badge and opened a shipwide frequency. "Naomi Wildman to the Doctor, Icheb and Rebi. Report to the bridge" and a few minutes later, the three had arrived on the bridge.

"Is there something the matter?" asked Icheb.

"No" said Naomi. "We could stay here and live out our lives on the planet. We could use _Voyager_ for scouting for supplies and defence. However, Captain Janeway wanted to get _Voyager_ home, and that is what I am going to do" and she looked at Icheb. "You are what I'd call an adult, so I can not force you to come with me and the Doctor. You can take a shuttle and leave and go any place you want. If you three want to go with him" she turned to the three other children. "Then I will not stop you from leaving" and there was a pause as she waited for someone to speak.

"After everything that has happened, I think we'd prefer to remain on the ship" said Icheb. "We have nowhere else to go" he added.

"And we'll force you to allow us to stay on _Voyager_" Mezoti added her twopennyworth in.

"It seems, Miss Wildman, that it's a case of 'Resistance Is Futile' on your hands" and the bridge was filled with laughter – even from icheb.

"I am sure that Captain Janeway would have something to say, but I don't know what. I guess I want to wish us all the luck in the universe" Naomi said. "Assume your takeoff stations" she ordered. They nodded in respect, and Icheb took the Engineering station, the twins took Ops, Mezoti took the science station and the Doctor headed towards the helm. "I'll take off" Naomi said to the hologram. The Doctor understodd that she wanted to be the one who flew the ship away from one of her mother's final resting places.

"Aye, Commander" he said softly.

"All stations, reports please"

"All decks are ready for takeoff" said Azan.

"Structual Integrety Fields are in place, and are rigged for transit through atmosphere" Rebi added.

"Artificial Gravity is powered up, and is working at 100% of rated power. Impulse drive is on but not powered. Thrusters are online and awaiting your command" Icheb said.

"Weather condictions are at optimal levels, and wind speeds are low enough to not affect our ascent" Mezoti said.

"Prepare for departure" said Naomi, and pressed the sequence that would allow them to take off. _Voyager_ rose from the ground and hovered over the burial site. Very slowly, Naomi dipped the ship to port as Azan turned on every light on the exterior hull. After a few moments, Naomi righted the ship and entered the departure program. She got up out the seat and turned to the Doctor. "She's all yours" and the hologram smiled before sitting down at the helm.

"We're holding at 40,000ft" he reported.

"Status report" Naomi ordered, sitting at the First Officer's chair.

"All systems register as normal" reported Icheb.

"Continue to orbit" came the order, and Naomi did her best to sound like Janeway. The ship soared higher into the sky, and eventually entered into orbit. "Prepare to launch bouys" and after checkign them out, they launched them into their assigned positions in orbit of the planet they had named Voyager. The bouys contained a warning in all Delta Quadrant languages that there had been a terrible plague on the surface, and that no one should land under any circumstances.

"The bouys are in position are are transmitting normally" reported Azan.

"Right" Naomi said. She took a few deep breaths, and calmed her thoughts before giving out an order. "Set course for the Alpha Quadrant – Warp 5, and lay it into the navigational computer"

"Course set" the Doctor said.

"Engage" and the ship broke orbit and jumped to Warp and resumed its journey. Naomi waited until she was sure that everything was going as it should, and then she told everyone that they would be resuming the shifts. "You have the bridge, Icheb"

"Understood" and the rest piled into a turbolift and went down to eat, sleep or regenerate. Naomi went to her quarters, took the pill that the Doctor had given to her, and then she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

# # # # #

"Doctor?" Mezoti called out as she entered Sickbay.

"Is there sonething I can help you with?" asked the hologram as he came out of his little office.

"Well I think so" said Mezoti hesitently. "It is Naomi's birthday in a few days time, and I thought that it might be a good way to cheer her up" the girl suggested.

"Indeed it might well be just the ticket" said the Doctor. "I know that she has not been visiting the holodeck as much lately, so perhaps we should hold a party for her with her favourite holo program" and the two began making plans, and called Icheb up on the bridge so he could help in the planning as well.

# # # # #

Naomi entered the program, waited a moment, and then sat back and listened to one of her favourite pieces of music. Tom Paris had loaned her a few files of his for her to listen to, and the girl had found she liked the ones from mid 20th Century to early 21st Century ones the most. Looking through the database, Naomi had discovered that she also liked several of the classical pieces, though these were limited to light and airy ones. At the moment though, she was listening to a piece that Tuvok had once mentioned to her during one of her lessons. As she tried go to sleep once more, the girl made a pledge to herself to get _her _crew and _Voyager_ to the Alpha Quadrant. Her last thought before slipping into the land of sleep, was that perhaps she might see the guiding tree that Neelix talked about sometimes. If she did, then maybe she might be able to see her mother, or the Captain, or Neelix or the rest of the crew.

# # # # #

It had taken weeks to gather enough vessels to go after _Voyager_, but they were assured that they would be able to easily get their target and bring her back to their planet.

# # # # #

Naomi stepped out onto the bridge, took the report from Rebi and started her shift on the bridge. She was about half way through her turn when her comm badge went off.

'_Doctor to Naomi Wildman_"

"Naomi here"

'_Please report to Holodeck 1_' and he closed the channel before Naomi asked what the matter was. She attempted to get Icheb up to mind the bridge for a while, but the comm system was refusing to put through her calls. This did not make her suspicious as the comm system had been damaged when a relay had blown on Deck 3 – the result of a bad spare part. She looked at the sensors, saw nothing on them and then took the turbolift to the holodecks. To her surprise, it was running a program, and she knew that if there was a problem with it, then some of the others would be gathering outside with panels over the floor. The doors opened up and she saw the Flotter program running and her friends inside by the pool.

"SURPRISE!" they shouted. She had forgotten that it was her birthday, but her friends hadn't and had gone to the trouble of sorting her out a little party.

"Happy birthday, Naomi" Mezoti hugged her best friend tightly. Everyone did the same, and she was led by the hand to the waterfall where Flotter normally resided. She looked around, expecting to see Flotter and Trevis, but saw neither of the pair.

"We deactivated the characters" said Azan. "As much as they are nice, it would be pleasant for this event to just have us" he added.

"We had to deactivate them because Mezoti got into a fight with Flotter over the title of 'Best Friend'. Flotter seemed to think he was that person" Icheb said, and then handed her a present he had spent hours thinking of and making. It was a miniature oven which could bake small buns and cakes. The heating unit came from a now vacant set of quarters.

"This is from myself and Azan" said Rebi, and handed Naomi their present – Flotter, and Treevis action figures. "You can have your own adventures now" he added.

"This is from me" said the Doctor, and he gave her her very own holocamera. It had taken him a while to make, even though he could have simply replicated one. The doctor knew that things which were home or hand made were often thought of as being better. The last few weeks Sickbay had resembled a disaster area as pieces of metal and circuit chips had been all over his desk.

"These are from me" and pointed out the two small boxes under the trees near the water. Naomi opened the first to find an environmental suit in her size, and in the second - much small box – was a old fashioned leather backed album of pictures of her and her mother. A number of them also included the crew when they had gone to parties – like the wedding between Tom Paris and B'lanna Torres.

"Thanks" she said

"If I was you, I would take out the album and look underneath it" said the Doctor, and she did so to reveal a framed picture of her mother in the dress she had worn for her last birthday. Naomi had said she looked very pretty that day.

"Thank you very much" she said quietly.

"It is illogical for you to cry at this time" said Icheb.

"Why?"

"It would be a waste of time" he said.

"Of what?"

"Of time making this food, and only letting it spoil" he said, and with a wave of his hand, a picnic blanket and basket appeared close to the edge. Naomi was surprised by the level of work that had gone into this.

"Is this all real food?" she asked.

"We have been making it for several days, and it includes all your favourite foods" said the Doctor. "Although as your physician I would recommend that you avoid all this unhealthy stuff" and Naomi rolled her eyes and giggled.

"You would say that" she laughed. They sat and ate the cold food first like sandwiches and jelly and ice cream. Mezoti called up a set of changing rooms and she, Naomi and the twins changed into appropriate clothing and went swimming. Icheb preferred to change alone and lie back on a water float – watching the fun going on around him. They came out after a while, showered and then came out to the warm food. A cake was brought out afterwards, and Mezoti and the twins got Icheb to dance with Naomi. As he did so, the Doctor took some snaps on Naomi's new holocamera so she had pictures of everything that had happened. The group was tired out by the late evening, so the Doctor offered to take a double shift at the bridge. Naomi declared that she had had too much cake and therefore decided that the turbolift couldn't carry her to her quarters. She opted to spend the night with the others in the cargo bay, and slept in the sleeping bag which had been kept there since she had become friends with the former drones.

# # # # #

The Doctor found he loved being on his own on the bridge, though this was because of the fact that he was playing an opera over the speakers. During his eight hours on the bridge, he did very little except to take scans, enter the results into the computer's database and keep an eye out for ships coming close to them. He didn't want the Borg to drop by anytime soon after all. Apart from this, his time was well spent with him finishing a few reports that he needed to do. The one major thing he undertook was to make a slight detour around a patch of what was called 'Space Weather' by most crews. He was relieved by Icheb who looked refreshed and ready to do his four allotted hours.

"How is Naomi?" he asked.

"She is… awake" came the reply.

"I think she had too much sugar at the party" the Doctor chuckled. He informed Icheb about the events of his shift, informed him of a few nearby planetary and a nebula which _Voyager_ would pass by shortly. While Naomi's stated intention was to get to the Alpha Quadrant, she also wanted to map as much as she could whilst on the way there. As he sat at science and adjusted the sensors, Icheb thought about his friend and how well she was coping with her mother's death. Although it had been a few months since the event, she still sometimes talked as if she would come in the room. He assumed it was because she had not had a chance to say goodbye to her properly. He didn't know when this would end as he wasn't a councillor. What he did know was that she was getting over it, and that time would help Naomi. he was just getting ready to return to warp when a vessel – quickly followed by several others - dropped out of warp and hailed _Voyager_.

"This is Federation Starship _Voyager_. To whom am I speaking?" he asked after opening a channel.

'_This is the Norcadian Defence Force. Hand over your hostage or we shall open fire_' said a gruff male voice. Icheb scanned the vessels and saw they had powered their weapons and shields.

"_Voyager_ is not holding any hostages" he said. "It may be that you are mistaking another vessel for ourselves"

'_Do not give me that. You have taken a member of our people hostage, and you will hand her over before we open fire_' and the ships locked weapons on _Voyager_. There was only one thing Icheb could do.

"Computer, Red Alert! Shields Up. All officers to the Bridge" and the lights dimmed as the ship prepared for battle.

'_So, you would attack us would you?_'

"We are merely taking steps to defend ourselves should you attack us. You may speak to our Captain shortly, and this incident can be resolved without bloodshed"

'_This is acceptable_' said the voice.

"Please allow us five of our minutes. Our laws state that we must take precautions when other races board our ship for fear of infecting said persons" Icheb said. He was not lying as such, but merely telling the person a bit too much.

'_This too is acceptable. We shall await your Captain's signal_' and the channel was muted. Mezoti, Naomi and Rebi came in one lift whilst the Doctor and Azan came on the second turbolift.

"What is going on?" asked Naomi.

"Several ships dropped out of warp and surrounded us. They locked weapons on _Voyager_ and ordered us to hand over a hostage which they believe we are holding" Icheb said. "I have managed to 'stall' them for several minutes" he added.

"Can we out run them?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, but they would fire upon us the moment we moved" Icheb said. "They also expect to speak to Captain Janeway shortly".

"That is unlikely to happen soon" said Azan.

"Perhaps it can" said Naomi as she quickly came up with a plan. "On my signal, Icheb, reroute the signal to Holodeck 1" and she entered a few commands into the Ops console.

"What is your plan?" asked Mezoti.

"Fancy a trip to the holodeck?" grinned Naomi. "By the way, who are these people? Have we met them before?" and Icheb nodded.

"They are called the Norcadians" he said, and Mezoti visibly paled.

"Is something the matter?" asked the Doctor.

"Me" said Mezoti in a whisper. "They are after me"

**A/N:**

**Another exciting chapter for you to read!**

**Now I was very careful in this chapter to work out something here. In the episode "Tsunkatse" of Voyager, the ship is said to be in orbit of Norcadia Prime and clearly interacts with the Norcadians. Yet in the following episode, "Collective" the crew takes on five children – Azan, Rebi, Icheb, Mezoti and an unnamed baby. After determining that Mezoti was a Norcadian, Janeway **_**should**_** have put the ship about and taken Mezoti home. Therefore, Janeway is guilty of kidnapping Mezoti at the very least.**

**What follows is a reference to what Barclay does in "Pathfinder", and we'll also have a full engagement between Voyager and the Nocadians. We'll also be having some odd moments on the way home, simply to keep a grip on sanity – plus we'll also ask an important question: How quickly can an 8 year old go-kart through Voyager's decks.**

**If ANYONE has any suggestions for some crazy ideas for the group to do in order to stay sane on their long trip to Earth, then tell me. As I said before though, the next chapter will contain a full battle.**

**Regards,**

**Pixel And Stephanie Forever**


	4. Hide, Seek And Fight

**Hide, Seek And Fight **

Unfortunately, the Norcadian vessels opened fire on _Voyager_ so they rushed back to various stations.

"Report!" said Naomi.

"Shields are down to 89%" Mezoti said.

"Target their weapons, and return fire" Naomi ordered. Twin lances of energy darted out and hit the offending vessel.

"No effect" came the report. "Either they have superior shielding, or they have diverted a lot of power. I am uncertain as to which is correct"

"Evasive manoeuvres, Rebi. Are our weapons going to be any use?" she asked Icheb.

"I do not believe so" he replied. "given enough time, I believe we may be able to enhance our weapons and shields" and the ship shuddered.

"Is there anything that we can use for cover?" asked Naomi of Azan.

"There is a nebula bearing 134.82" he said.

"I'll take it. Rebi, set course for that and engage at maximum warp" Naomi ordered.

"That is illogical" said Mezoti.

"We need to get there quickly" Naomi said. "We don't need the forwards shields at the moment. Divert power from there to the aft shields. I bet they'll try to shoot our impulse and warp drives" and this made sense. Icheb, Azan and Mezoti worked quickly to divert all possible power to the aft shields. To keep hem at full power, they travelled under impulse power to the nebula, and the Norcadian ships followed _V__oyager_ whilst firing at them.

"Cloud boundary in one minute" Rebi said.

"Our shields will be useless once we go inside, and sensors will become very limited" Icheb said. "However it will be extremely hard for them to detect us once we are inside" he added.

"So we just aim for the biggest part of the nebula?" said Naomi.

"It will give us some protection" Icheb said. "We can wait there for them to pass by, or for them to grow tired of searching for us" he added.

"But how long can we last in there?" asked Mezoti.

"According to sensor scans and computer records, we can last up to 7 hours before our hull begins to reach dangerous corrosion levels" Azan said.

"Cloud boundary in ten seconds" Rebi said.

"Mezoti, load and fire Aft torpedoes as we enter the nebula" Naomi ordered. She planned to blind their sensors as they entered the nebula through the antimatter detonations. Two torpedoes flew out and detonated the moment they entered.

"We have entered the nebula" Rebi said, and the shields and main sensors went down.

"We have now lost our ability to trace the pursuing vessels. We are limited to the passive array, and our navigation plotting systems are inoperable" Azan said.

Rebi, can you plot us a course to the densest part of the nebula, with a base start originating on our original entry course when we entered the cloud?" Icheb said.

"I will comply" said Rebi, and his fingers darted over the helm as he worked. They went forwards on half impulse in case the Norcadians had sensors better then those on _Voyager_. Once they had entered their hiding spot, they came to a full stop after Rebi executed a prefect turn so _Voyager_ was pointing towards Earth.

"Right then" Naomi said. "Begin damage checks, estimate a repair priority and then do the repairs that are possible in the seven hours we can remain stationary. I also want a watch kept on the bridge, so that means you Doctor" she ordered.

"Very well" said the hologram.

"Lets get to work" Naomi said. "Doctor, you have the bridge" and with that they broke up and went to their jobs. Naomi however went to her quarters and fell into a deep sleep.

# # # # #

"I believe this relay is fused" said Icheb.

"I concur" said Azan.

"Although it is a low priority, there are plenty of spares around us. We can do the repairs now" Icheb continued. "I will remove the relay while you go get a spare"

"I will comply" said Azan. He went and started looking at boxes, and he was on the third row when he came upon something of a surprise. Azan called Icheb over who was equally surprised.

"I believe our repairs can be done quicker" Icheb noted dryly. He tapped his comm badge and asked Naomi to come to the cargo bay. She arrived a few minutes later with her hair in a slight mess and Mezoti trailing her.

"This had better be good, or I'm throwing you out the airlock" grumbled Naomi.

"I believe that when you have heard Azan's discovery, you will not be throwing me out the airlock" Icheb said with a slight smile. "Azan found Borg components in several storage crates. Upon further investigation, we discovered that they date from when the crew made an alliance with the Borg. After the alliance was terminated by them, the crew removed nearly all of the technology that had been installed but did not jettison it into space or use the metals contained within" Icheb finished speaking.

"Does this all work?" Naomi asked. She wondered if there was anything that they could use.

"If tricorder readings are accurate, then all components in the crates are operational. Installation is possible for everything, though some will take more time then others of course" Azan said.

"We could use some of this to enhance _Voyager_'s systems" Mezoti said to Naomi.

"But who could install it?" she asked.

"Well you just so happen to have four ex-Borg onboard" Mezoti grinned at her friend's reaction.

What systems can you enhance?" Naomi asked.

"All of them" said Icheb, and Naomi wondered about something.

"Would Borg shields allow us to stay in the nebula longer?" she asked.

"They will give us an additional twelve hours" Mezoti said.

"How long will it take to install the technology?" Naomi asked.

"One hour for installation and testing" Icheb replied.

"Do it" said Naomi instantly. "Once you have done that, begin work on enhancing the engines and then weapons. With so few of us, I'd prefer to run from danger if at all possible" she added. Mezoti, Icheb and Azan set to work pulling out the Borg technology and sorting it out. They took the power regulators and shield adaptors and headed off to make the ship's shields stronger. They took their time in doing it, and Rebi monitored everything from engineering. It took a little longer then the hour that Icheb had estimated, but he assumed that Naomi didn't mind. Once they were confirmed as being connected and powered correctly, Icheb went to Engineering with Mezoti to enhance the engines while Azan took over from the Doctor on the bridge. The hologram was certain his main profession would be needed soon enough. The engines took several hours to do as they needed to repair the damage sustained first before they began the upgrades. Because of the fact the Borg power nodes and technology consumed a lot of power, the pair made sure they could be deactivated when not needed. It took them several hours to complete, and they had to visit Sickbay to get treated from the cuts and burns each had received. They were informing the Doctor of their work when the ship shook violently.

'_Red Alert_' said the computer. '_All ands to battle stations_' and the trio ran for the bridge.

# # # # #

"REPORT!" shouted Naomi as she dashed onto the bridge whilst still in her pyjamas.

"The Norcadian ships are firing some kind of unguided charge into the nebula" Azan said. "They are most likely to be watching any reactions in their sensors" he added.

"What if we were to move away to somewhere else?" Naomi asked.

"We would still be discovered" Icheb said. the girl thought for a moment and then made her decision.

"Take your stations" she ordered. "Doctor, off to engineering with you please" and the hologram headed down. Naomi wasn't being mean to him, but if there was a coolant leak he was the one to keep working through it.

"Impulse engines are at 100%" Rebi said.

"Very well" Naomi said. "Take us out, 1 quarter impulse"

"Sensors are having a hard time seeing through the interference" Azan said. "We may be able to –"

"SHIP DEAD AHEAD!" Mezoti said.

"Hard to starboard" Naomi ordered, and Rebi swung the ship round.

"They are following" said Azan.

"Mezoti, do we have weapons?" Naomi asked

"We have phasers at 90% power. Aft torpedo launcher is offline" she said as the Norcadian fired at _Voyager_.

"Fire phasers" said Naomi, and two lanes of destructive energy crossed from their ship to the Norcadian vessel. The no shield rule applied to them as well, and the phasers burned into the hull. It didn't do much because of the toughened hull, but a few plates were burned and one was twisted badly.

"Direct hit" came the report. "_Very minor_ damage to the enemy vessel" added mezoti. The fact they were of the same race as her had noy much thought in the former drone's mind.

"Is that a large pocket of gas I see?" Naomi said as she looked at the viewscreen.

"Affirmative" said Azan.

"And they will be as blind as us when we go through right?"

"Indeed"

"Increase speed to full impulse" said Naomi.

"That is inadvisable" said Icheb.

"We need to make the ship think that we are making a run for it" Naomi said.

"Bt we are not" Icheb said.

"We will in fact come to a stop, drop down, wait for them to pass over and then rise up and shot everything but their least powerful engine out" Naomi said.

"And then what do we do?" asked Azan.

"We take on the other ships in the same manner" she replied. "Only we burn out everything so they will have to either abandon some of the ships, or else otherwise make very long term repairs. Either way, we'll be long gone" Naomi added.

"We have entered the pocket" Rebi said.

"All stop" Naomi said. "Take us down by 100 metres" and _Voyager_ plunged into depths of the dense cloud. "Ready phasers, load torpedo bays and prepare to fire" she ordered.

"I will not be able to get a lock due to the interference" said Mezoti.

"Aim manually" Naomi said. they waited for a few moments before they sensed the Norcadian ship pass over them. "Take us up, Rebi. Standby all weapons" and _Voyager_ shot up to where it had dropped from.

"They have not detected us" Azan said.

"Pick your target and fire" Naomi said, and Mezoti pressed the buttons. Phasers and torpedoes shot from _Voyager_ and ripped into the hull of the Norcadian ship. The resultant explosion shook them hard, but Mezoti kept on firing phasers into the engines in order to disable all but the most powerful.

"Their engines have been all but disabled" Azan said. "They have total failure of main power. Their life support is working, but at reduced power. They are 'dead in the water' so to speak" he said.

"They have sent a distress call" said Mezoti. "If I have read this right, they got a response" she added.

"Plot us a course out of here" said Naomi. "Half impulse until we clear the nebula, and then ramp it up to Warp 9" and Rebi acknowledged the command. Several minutes later, and they reached the boundary of the nebula, and sensors began to come back online.

"We are beginning to regain all main systems" said Icheb from his place at the Engineering console.

"Give me a sensor scan" Naomi ordered.

"Sensors indicate a group of large masses" Mezoti said. "Readings match that of…" her voice faltered.

"Of what?" asked Naomi.

"Norcadian vessels dead ahead!" Mezoti said.

"How many?" Naomi asked.

"Four" Azan said. "Two appear to be a type of scout or courier, one is a cruiser and the other appears to be the same ship that killed the crew"

"They have powered up weapons and shields, and are on an intercept course" Mezoti said.

"I guess we'll see how good your Borg shield enhancements really work" Naomi said. "Raise shields. Ready phasers. Standby forward torpedo bays" she ordered.

"We are being hailed" said Azan.

"Open a channel"

"This is Captain Ra' ider of the Norcadian defence force" the same male voice they had heard before came over the speakers. "Stand down your weapons and shields and prepare to be boarded" he ordered.

"Go kiss a targ" Naomi used a Klingon expression that B'lanna had once told her of. The girl closed the channel from the Captain's seat. "Rebi, plot a course directly for the scouts – full impulse".

"Understood" said the boy.

"They are in weapons range" Mezoti said.

"Lock on and prepare to fire on my command" Nomi said. "We'll not start this buy we'll finish it alright" she added.

"Ready, Naomi" Mezoti said.

"Fire" and the phasers lanced out at them both. All four vessels returned fire, but the enhanced shields took the attack without much trouble.

"Shields down to 96%" Mezoti said.

"Bring us about for another attack, and target the scouts first. Once we have knocked them out, we can go for the cruiser before we go for that… that… thing" Naomi finished. A little bit of hate was beginning to flow through her veins. _Voyager_ swung round and fired phasers at the scouts, and soon they lost their shields. A bit of good aiming from Mezoti soon had them disabled. The remaining pair fired at the ship which shook.

"Shields are down to 89%" sad Icheb.

'_Doctor to the Bridge_'

"Naomi here"

'_Sorry to disturb you in the middle of a battle, but the computer tells me that the automatic reloaders have failed on the forward torpedo launchers. We only have what is in the tubes now. It is a one in two thousand chance they failed when they did_'

"Understood" Naomi said.

'_I am unable to fix this whilst in combat_' the Doctor said.

"Okay" Naomi said. "Just keep watching everything else, bridge out" and she closed the channel.

"We have four torpedoes in each tube" said Mezoti.

"Eight left…" Naomi said.

"If we were to find a gap or weak spot in the enemy ship's shields, then we could fire full phasers at that location and create a gap through which our torpedoes could travel" Icheb said

"Keep looking for that spot" Naomi told Azan. "bring us about to face the rear of the cruiser and fire full powered phasers at their engines…" but before she could finish, the cruiser fired two shots at _Voyager_ and then warped away. "What happened?"

"They have warped out of the area, and are on a course directly for Norcadia Prime" Azan said.

"They're retreating?" Naomi was very surprised at this.

"I believe so" and the ship shook as the remaining ship fired torpedoes at them. Consoles sparked as Naomi was thrown from her chair.

"Report!" she yelled as she got back into it.

"They fired some kind of plasma torpedo" said Mezoti. "Even Borg shields are not enough to stop them, they phase in and out of subspace before they impact on the hull" she said.

"I have noticed something odd about them" Azan said.

"Don't keep it to yourself" Naomi said as Rebi evaded another spread of torpedoes from what could only be called a battleship.

"The torpedoes do not become active until they have reached a certain point away from them" he said.

"A safety feature" Icheb said.

"The point is five hundred metres in front of them" Azan said.

"Rebi, put us on a collision course. Even when we have got inside their torpedo safety zone, keep heading towards them" Naomi instructed.

"Aye, Aye"

"You have a plan" said Icheb.

"They don't want to get damaged as much as possible. We'll head in so close they will have to drop their shields in order for them to turn round. When that happens, Mezoti fires every torpedo we have and we should be able to get them" Naomi explained her plan. Onwards _Voyager_ flew, and took pounding after pounding from the beam weapons of the Norcadian ship. Then as they got within touching distance, the Norcadian's dropped shields and turned to port. "FIRE!" yelled Naomi, and Mezoti fired all eight of the torpedoes into the ship. Such a concentrated burst allowed them to break the hull and the mighty ship slowed to a halt in the midst of explosions coming from differing points.

"They have lost all main and secondary power" Azan said. "They have hull breaches on multiple decks and have limited life support" he finished.

"They are attempting to transport something over to us" said Icheb.

"Mezoti" Naomi stood and pointed at the drifting ship with her finger. "Beam the aft torpedoes into that ship and fire full powered phsaers into them. Tear her… _apart_" and the girl complied and the ship detonated with such a force that _Voyager_ shook heavily and several more consoles shorted and sparked.

"They have been destroyed" said Azan.

"Stand down to yellow alert and stay like that for the next hour" Naomi ordered. "Begin damage checks on all stations. Set course for the Alpha Quadrant, Warp 6. Naomi to the Doctor. Report to the ready room please. Icheb, you have the bridge" and Naomi took one last look at the swirling debris and a few body parts before leaving for the ready room.

**A/N:**

**Another great chapter for you to read. For the observant, the nebula battle is based on ST II. Next chapter will have some big decisions made, some personal logs made and a large shopping trip made by the group.**

**Next one will take some time on account of the fact I'm going to do my HP fics now.**

**Regards,**

**Pixel And Stephanie Forever – one and the same person**


	5. Regrets, Mysteries And A Big Surprise

**Regrets, Mysteries And A Big Surprise **

"You wanted to see me?" the Doctor asked as he walked inside the ready room. He crossed over to where Naomi was lying on the couch.

"I ordered one of the ships destroyed" said the girl with her eyes closed.

"Icheb informed me of what happened" said the hologram. "I am sure it was the only thing to do" he added.

"But it wasn't" Naomi said as she opened her eyes and sat up. "The ship was disabled and wasn't going anywhere fast, but it was the same ship that transported the virus that killed my Mom. I wanted revenge, and I had Mezoti tear the ship to pieces" and Naomi broke into a sob and wrapped her arms around the hologram. "I'm a monster" she wailed. The Doctor held her until she had finished, and then injected her with something that would calm her nerves for a while, and he also gave her a sedative.

"You need a few days rest" said the Doctor.

"But who will run the ship?" asked Naomi, sniffing back the tears.

"If I might make a suggestion…?" ventured the EMH.

"Anything"

"Appoint a First Officer. You need to delegate tasks, or else you will become too exhausted to function"

"Who do you think I should appoint?" asked Naomi.

"I would suggest giving the job to Icheb because he is the oldest after you, has _some_ Starfleet Academy training from the letters he received from Starfleet Command and has no problems with following your orders" the Doctor said. Naomi thought it over and slowly nodded.

"He does seem the best choice" she agreed. "And if I gave the job to Mezoti, then I'd just be showing favouritism" Naomi sighed. "I'll make you a deal, Doctor. I'll give the job to Icheb and then take a few days off and rest" and the Doctor nodded.

"That seems fine, Captain" he smiled.

"If you don't drop the 'Captain', then I'm confiscating your emitter" Naomi grinned before tapping her combadge. "Icheb, report to the ready room" and she counted to five before the Brunali arrived.

"What is the problem?" he asked.

"The Doctor has suggested that I become the Captain" Naomi said.

"This is logical" said Icheb.

"However, this means I need a First Officer to take care of things instead of me. I'm tired and worn out from all that has happened. The Doctor has suggested someone, and I happen to agree" Naomi said.

"May I ask who?" asked Icheb.

"You"

"Me?" Icheb was surprised.

"You are the oldest person on board, and you've had some training from Starfleet Academy. Plus, you've already had leadership time on that Cube you was on. I know that didn't work out so well for you, but I trust you" Naomi said, and she stuck out her hand which Icheb took and shook.

"Congratulations" said the Doctor.

"Thank you" replied Icheb. "What are your orders?" he asked.

"Begin making repairs where needed, keep scanning for any ships that might pose us a threat and keep an eye out for anything interesting" Naomi said. "I'm going to my quarters for a while before going to the Holodeck for a while" she added. "I need a rest, and I just want to be alone for a while" and Icheb nodded.

"Very well" he said. "With your permission, I shall begin damage checks, devise a repair plan and get repairs started" and Naomi nodded.

"And you don't have to ask my permission to do things like this you know" Naomi said. "If you think it needs sorting out right away, then get it done. Just come to me if there is something you are not sure about" and Icheb nodded. They headed out to the bridge together where Naomi announced her new appointment. Mezoti claimed that it was only logical and said so in a passable version of Icheb's voice.

"I could still put you in a cargo container and send you back to the Borg" Icheb replied, and a smile graced his features which was a change from the stern look he often had.

"Naomi would put you into space without a suit if you did" Mezoti grinned.

"That's enough you two" Naomi grinned. "Icheb, the bridge is yours" and with that she headed to the turbolift which whisked her away.

# # # # #

Mezoti waited until she had finished her work on the bridge, and headed down to Sickbay for a delayed talk she needed to have with the Doctor. When she entered, the hologram was going over some medical journals.

"Miss Mezoti" he greeted her.

"You know it is only Mezoti" said the girl while rolling her eyes.

"And _you_ know that I was only practising my teasing on you. Naomi suggested it to me some time ago" the Doctor said as he saved the information on the screen and Mezoti sat in the office chair. "Now what can I do for you?" he asked.

"I am in need of your help" Mezoti said, and she started playing with her hands. "I'm not ill or anything like that, but it is still something that I am worried about" she added. "I need you to scan me" and the Doctor took her to a biobed and did the requested scans.

"I see" said the Doctor when he read the results. "This is serious" he added.

# # # # #

Naomi looked around the quarters she once shared with her mother. Even after the weeks and months after her death, Naomi still expected her mother to be in them or to call her on the comm. Sighing to herself, the girl went to her room and picked up a few things before heading to the holodeck for the day. She instructed the computer to play the Flotter program, and then walked inside to see her holographic friends.

"Naomi!" Flotter was the first to see her.

"Hi, Flotter" the girl replied. "Hi Trevis" she added when she saw the tree.

"You've been away a long time" said Trevis.

"Me and my friends have been very busy" Naomi replied, putting down the bag she had carried from her quarters down on the ground. "We had to fight some ships, and even had to blow one up" and both holograms could detect the sadness in her voice.

"I'm sure you had to do it" said Trevis kindly.

"You are not a bad person, Naomi Wildman" Flotter told her. "So… how long can you stay for?" he asked.

"The whole day" Naomi brightened. "The Doctor said that I should take at least a day and maybe more off. I've been trying to sort out the ship's problems by myself" she added.

"Well I, for one, am not unhappy to see you" said Trevis. "So what are we going to do now?" he asked.

"I just wanted to spend time with you, and maybe go swimming in Lake Joy" Naomi said.

"Want to play Hide And Seek?" asked Flotter.

"I guess so… then we can go visit the castle with the giant beetle in it. After that we could go swimming" Naomi said.

"The beetle has gone away to a far and distant land" Trevis said. "And it is too hot to run around" he added, looking up at the sun.

"Well I'll just go swimming then" Naomi said, and she opened the bag and pulled out her swimming costume that Tom Paris had replicated for her the previous year. She had just undone the catches that held up her clothes and had let it drop to the ground before she realised something – she was just in her underwear.

"I said Naomi was the person that likes red" Flotter said to Trevis. Naomi knew that they were just holograms, but she still felt embarrassed about standing in her knickers. It was almost like the time that Icheb had walked in on the Doctor giving Naomi an examination after she fell down from the lift in Engineering.

"Can you guys turn around please?" she said – going as red as a certain part of her clothing.

"Why?" asked Trevis.

"Because I am trying to get changed, and I can't do it when you two are watching me" Naomi blushed again.

"Let us go and get the things ready for Naomi by the lake" suggested Trevis.

"Okay" agreed Flotter, and the pair walked off into the forest. As she finished undressing and put on the suit, Naomi made a mental note to create a changing booth next time she went swimming in the Flotter program. When she was finished, she had the computer alter the simulation so that she stood next to her holographic friends.

"Ready!" she announced.

"We're sorry if we mad you feel sad" said Flotter.

"That's alright" Naomi replied, "At least you know now not to do it again. Besides, I should have created a changing booth to use. But its in the past now… now lets go swimming!" and the girl ran into the lake and had a good time.

# # # # #

"Do you know what I can do for this?" asked Mezoti.

"From what I have looked at, there isn't a cure as such" said the Doctor. "If I have read the medical texts concerning your species correctly, it is something of a normal reaction when your people reach this age. Of course, we have no other Norcadians onboard, so this makes the 'treatment' harder to effect. The only thing I can suggest is that you use the Holodeck after consulting all the data. It may be that there is something that can help you. If not… well we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" said the Doctor, and Mezoti thanked him before leaving Sickbay. She was just about to have a trip down to the Holodeck when Icheb called her and asked her her help in undertaking repairs.

# # # # #

Icheb had created a list of repairs that could be completed by himself, Mezoti and the twins. The group had split so that they could get started, and had left the Doctor to watch the bridge. The young Brunali had settled into his role as First Officer quickly, and had made up a report on the fuel status, a report on the remaining torpedoes and a report on what sensors had picked up. The first and third reports were constantly updated by the computer, and were done in a way that Naomi could understand well. The second one read simply as

_Subject: Torpedoes_

_Status: None_

_Result: No more booms_

_Action Taken: Find or Make _More

An alarm brought his attention to a console in Engineering which was flashing and sounding a warning tone.

"We lost the power again" he said.

"_I shall attempt to bypass the relay_" said Mezoti over the comm.

"That is not what it says in the manual" Icheb told her.

"_How about we get the sensors working fully? Then we can do the repairs properly later on. I am sure that Naomi would much rather see a Borg cube a long way away rather then on top of us_"

"Your point is taken" Icheb said.

"_Tell me when sensors are at full power. I'll leave it like this until we have more time_" Mezoti said.

"Understood" and Icheb watched the power level and sensor resolution go high into the 90% range, and hold around the middle. "I do not believe that we can get better then that without replacing the malfunctioning array" he said to Mezoti.

"_Understood. It will do for the time being. I will get on to the next repair. Mezoti out_" and just as the link closed, the Doctor's voice filled the empty air.

"_Doctor to Icheb. Can you come to the bridge please?_"

"Icheb here. What is the problem?" he asked.

"_I'm reading a ship on sensors. It's a Borg Cube… but it is acting odd_"

"Define 'odd' please, Doctor" Icheb sighed as he continued working.

"_It is sitting dead in the water. There are no drones onboard, weapons and defensive systems are offline, sensors are disabled and life support is on minimal power_" the Doctor's information made Icheb look up in surprise.

"Go to Yellow Alert. I am on my way to the bridge" and with that, he left for the turbolift.

# # # # #

"This is most odd" said Icheb. Sensors had shown nothing that varied from the scans that the Doctor had seen. Not wanting to take Naomi from her more then deserved R&R, Icheb brought the ship to a halt a short distance from the Cube, and was careful to lay in an escape course should this all be a trick.

"Sensors confirm my earlier report" said the Doctor. "I do not read any bodies onboard, nor do I detect any diseases or viruses onboard" he added. "The only thing wrong is that shields, weapons and defensive systems are all inoperable. It appears as if they were fused by the Borg in an attempt to Self Destruct – the drones presumably took to their escape Sphere. I do not know how or why it didn't complete. The Borg are normally very particular about leaving nothing of value" and Icheb agreed.

"This is true, but I do not want to disturb Naomi just yet. Let us run a complete series of scans on the ship, and compare them to the measurements we have in our database. I shall also call Mezoti and the twins up here" and they set to work – repairs put aside for now.

# # # # #

"You can't go home wearing that" said Flotter to Naomi.

"I know" she replied. "I've had such a good day, but I have to go home now and sleep, but I'll be back like I said!" and Naomi shut down the program and had the computer make the holodeck get warmer while she changed. As she walked back to her quarters to eat and then sleep, Naomi wondered what she would do for the next 60 odd years of the trip home. Flotter and Trevis would go only so far, and she also had a responacability to the crew under her command. The command of a ten year old who had no Starfleet training at all. Yes, this ten year old had lived her life on _Voyager_ surrounded by the crew, but she still had no formal training then what she had managed to weedle out of the crew in exchange for running errands and things for them. On what was in her top three days, she even took the helm of the _Delta Flyer_. She had a small meal and then dressed for bed, allowing herself to drift off to a normal sleep.

# # # # #

"This is most atypical of the Borg" said Azan.

"I agree" said the Doctor. "But we have to know what is going on here" he added.

"The best way would be to board the vessel and attempt to access the databanks" Mezoti said.

"But Naomi wouldn't like that" said Rebi.

"I suppose we should wait for her to get up here" Icheb said. "But knowing what we know about Naomi, she'll want a complete report made for her. If you two" he pointed at the twins, "Begin flooding subspace. We should be able to cut off any links to the cube that the collective might have. For some reason, the cube was not destroyed by the self destruct sequence, though some systems are beyond repair" he stopped to think.

"I'm a Doctor, not a ship breaker" said the Doctor, "But if some of the other systems are still in working order, then couldn't we simply go over and take items that will be useful to us? We could certainly use a transwarp coil in order to get to the Alpha Quadrant" and Icheb admitted that the thought had not occurred to him as he had assumed that the transwarp coils would have been destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

"I will call Naomi" Icheb said.

# # # # #

"_Icheb to Naomi Wildman_" the call repeated several times before the girl replied.

"Naomi here – what is the problem?" she asked.

"_There is a Borg cube several hundred yards off our port bow. It is completely unoccupied and is operating on very little power. We think we can salvage parts from it_" Icheb said.

"I'm on my way" she said, and closed the link, got out of bed, had a quick sonic shower and dressed before heading to the bridge.

# # # # #

"I wasn't able to look at the holodeck yet" Mezoti whispered to the Doctor.

"I will find some excuse for you to visit, or you could wait until you're off shift" he said.

"I will wait until I am off duty, though technically I already am" Mezoti said.

"If Naomi intends to wait to see if this is a trap, then you could use it now" the Doctor said. Mezoti nodded before saying that she was going to have some relaxation time because of the work she had been doing.

**A/N:**

**Hope you like this chapter.**

**Got a little bit of everything, promotions, regrets, brief nudity (I know the ages of the main characters, but lets just face it… my fic and therefore my rules) and something wrong with Mezoti. Anyone is free to guess – except RraiderV1 who knows already what it is.**

**Next chapter will have some salvage and then the beginning of the final arc which will cover four chapters – plus a chapter to describe what happens after they arrive back in the Alpha Quadrant. I'm getting a few other fics completed first before I do anymore on this, but please feel free to review my other works in the meantime. All flames will be used to burn Colonel Gaddafi at dawn.**

**Regards**

**Robert**

**Now a "Big Hit" in North Korea – according to my story traffic indicators!**


	6. Salvage Work

**Salvage Work**

**(reposted due to technical issues)**

_Voyager_ sat off the cube with an escape course programmed into the helm should it suddenly start to move. Sensors checked every part of it against known dimensions in the database and the crew made preparations to board the cube in order to inspect components. When it came to deciding who was going to go over at first, Naomi went with the Doctor on account of his holographic form which would be immune to any pathogens they had been unable to detect. Half an hour before he was due to beam over, Icheb was still instructing him on important things to look for whilst onboard the cube. The plan that Icheb had drawn up and approved by Naomi involved getting to a processing centre and reviewing all the information contained in its sensor logs. If they had to leave in a hurry, then at least they would have a rough idea of Borg ship locations, patrols and any battle sites which they should avoid. It was only after the navigational data was transferred to _Voyager_ for later review would they begin salvage work. At the right time, he and the Doctor walked to the transporter room where Icheb handed over a phaser to the hologram.

"Might I remind you that I save lives – not take them" the Doctor said.

"We have scanned the ship numerous times, but I believe that Naomi would say 'Better to be safe then sorry'. Please take it" and the Doctor took it from Icheb with a small smile. "Icheb to the Bridge"

'_This is the Bridge_' came Mezoti's voice.

"The Doctor is ready to beam over to the cube"

'_Naomi here. If you see anything threatening, then I want you to signal for a quick beam out_' Naomi said.

"Understood" replied the Doctor.

'_Lowering shields for transport_' Mezoti said, and the transporter console beeped twice.

"Energising" and the Doctor was beamed over to the cube. "Transport complete" said Icheb.

'_Keep a good lock on him_'

"Aye, Captain" Icheb said.

# # # # #

"Damage report" Naomi turned in her chair to look at Mezoti manning the Ops station.

"Azan and Rebi have got starboard phasers on line again. However they report the replacements can not get above 55% power" her friend said.

"Can they do anything about it?" Naomi asked her.

"No" came the reply. "The phaser power conduits are coated with a non replicateable material to stop them from being copied by hostile forces" and Naomi could see the sense in that. It stopped Starfleet's weapons from being scanned and copied, though she wished that wasn't the case right now.

"Very well. Have the boys take a break for ten minutes before starting the repairs to Deck 5" Naomi ordered.

'_Doctor to _Voyager' came the Doctor's voice over the comm link.

"Naomi here. Go ahead"

'_I have located the processing centre, and I'm downloading the files to _Voyager's_ computer now_' and Mezoti's console started beeping.

"We're getting it now" Naomi said. "Have you been able to discover why the cube was just left here?" she asked.

'_No_' came the reply. '_The Borg appear to have whipped the computer core before activating the self destruct. I have been able to ascertain the status of the vital components_' the Doctor added.

"And?"

'_Warp drive has been completely destroyed, shields are inoperable but the emitters might salvageable and weapons are offline but useable_' the Doctor said.

"Is that it?" asked Naomi.

'_According to this display, there is a functioning Transwarp coil onboard_' and Naomi and Mezoti gasped.

'_Icheb to the Doctor_' came the Brunali's voice. '_Did I hear you correctly?_' he asked.

'_You did, Icheb. I am no engineer, but I believe there are a lot of materials and components that you bring over to the ship and install on _Voyager_ to get home quicker_' and Mezoti's console beeped again.

"Download complete" she announced. "Shall I send a copy to the transporter room for Icheb to study?" the girl asked.

"No… I think we all better talk about this in the conference room. Have Azan and Rebi meet us there in half an hour. Doctor, its time to leave for now. Icheb, beam him back aboard" Naomi issued the orders like a seasoned veteran.

'_One moment_' said the Doctor.

"Is something the matter?" asked Naomi, glancing down at the screen next to the chair.

'_There is nothing to be concerned about. I just wanted to bring some tissue samples aboard for testing_' and Naomi thought about it before allowing it and having Icheb beam the Doctor directly to Sickbay from the cube.

'_He is aboard_' said Icheb after a few moments.

"Come up here, Icheb. We need to talk about this. I want you to go over the data as much as you can and give me a report in half an hour's time. You know what I want" Naomi said.

'_I am on my way_' said Icheb.

"I'll be in the ready room" said Naomi to Mezoti. "You have the bridge" and the other girl nodded.

"Aye" and with that, Naomi walked into the ready room to work. The girl had grown up quite a bit since the deaths of the crew, and she tried to be a bit like Captain Janeway. Naomi had promised to complete Janeway's promise to get the ship back to the Alpha Quadrant, though there were no members of the original crew – bar the EMH who technically wasn't a crewmember according to Starfleet. Naomi decided to review the fuel status and how far they could travel at the average cruising speed. The girl was certain that with the Transwarp drive recovered from the cube, they could go even further then with the standard warp. She wasn't sure though how much fuel it would consume, so she left that to Icheb and the other former borg drones to sort out. As it was, _Voyager_ could go as far as 100 light years with the currant levels at Warp 6.5, but that was assuming no issues like alien attacks or what Naomi called "Space Weather". She was so absorbed into her work that she lost track of time and was surprised when the comm twittered.

"Naomi here" she said, tapping her comm badge.

'_We're all waiting for you_' said Mezoti.

"Oh the meeting…" Naomi said. "I'll be there in a minute" and she saved the work, shut off the console and left the ready room.

# # # # #

"… and now the report on the cube's systems" said Icheb. The monitor changed to show a cut away of several sections of the cube with pulsing dots in different colours. "According to information taken from both the cube and the scans from _Voyager_, we have been able to determine that there is about 15% of the cube that we can recover in terms of equipment. This includes shield emitters, sensors, power conduits and the transwarp coil" and the mentioned parts appeared on the screen.

"What about weapons?" asked Naomi. "If we face another attack, I would like to do so knowing that we can defend outselves properly. We are undermanned as it is" she added.

"Disrupter beams were rendered useless, however several of the torpedo magazines still have torpedoes in them. With you permission, I will begin transporting them to the ship" Icheb said.

"Good work" Naomi said. "Doctor, any ideas as to the reason some of the borg did not abandon ship?" she asked.

"According to my toxicology tests, there was a virus simuler to the one that Icheb was the carrier of" replied the hologram. "However, those drones were isolated from the collective's mind and the cube ordered to detonate after they had abandoned in the sphere" he added.

"It seems that the drone's infection spread to the cube's systems and aborted the sequence" Mezoti said. "Which, of course, is all the better for us" she added.

"Azan and myself can begin to remove parts as soon as you wish" Rebi said.

"Better get it started now" Naomi said. "What is your estimated time to completion?" the girl asked.

"Several hours" Azan said.

"That long?" Naomi asked.

"Indeed" said Icheb. "Although the cube is on minimal power, most components are still charged. It would be advisable to wait for them to be completely drained of power before removing them" and Naomi nodded at this. She trusted Icheb on this bit of information.

"Very well" she said. "Now about the information taken from the navigational logs" the girl continued, "Have you been able to discover any useful information?" and Mezoti nodded.

"It seems that this area has a number of patrolling cubes and probes. I believe that with the information, we can avoid most of the ships. However, there is something I wish to ask your permission for" she said.

"Go ahead"

"Our alcoves were damaged during the attacks. While they have not been affected so far, it would be advisable to get spare parts for them. I would like to take apart eight alcoves on the cube to give us enough" Mezoti said. "I would also like to check if there are any power sources the Borg captured. They may have taken them with them, but it would still be worth a look" and Naomi understood what she was saying.

"I assume that you mean to use anything that you find to power the alcoves" and Mezoti nodded.

"It could help out the power they take up. Each of the alcoves uses 30 Megawatts of power, and with all five active, it would take 150" Icheb said.

"Can you turn Seven's old one off?" asked the Doctor.

"I am afraid not" said Icheb. "Seven's alcove is the alcove that controls ours. If hers was to be shut down, all of the information stored in the units would be lost completely" he added.

"Well let's get on with the task of salvaging what we can" Naomi said. "Dismissed" and when she stood, the others did so automatically. Her four friends knew what they were doing, so Naomi remained to man the bridge. Sensors showed nothing in range, so she called up a few simulations to test herself in a battle if none of the others could help her. She lost all of them, but she was still able to inflict severe damage to the enemy ship – even though one time she flew _Voyager_ into the bows of the Romulan warbird. From time to time, she beamed over supplies from the cube to the cargo bays for temporary storage.

# # # # #

"Damn it…" said Mezoti under her breath as a console sparked and blew out.

"What happened?" asked Azan.

"I was attempting to remove the secondary data transfer cable from the console when it shorted out" Mezoti said.

"Can you get anything from this?" Azan asked, and he gave it a few experimental pokes.

"Everything has been depolarised" Mezoti wiped her hands on the replicated overalls she wore. "I'll have to go down three decks and attempt the same thing" and she started packing up her tools.

"Keep in contact" Azan said as she walked out of the chamber. He watched her go before going back to his task of removing shield emitters from their slots in the bulkhead.

'Voyager_ to Away Team_' Naomi's voice came over the comm link.

'_Icheb here. Is something the matter?_' asked the oldest of the former drones.

'_No, but I wanted a progress check on what was going on_' Naomi said.

'_Work is progressing slowly but steadily. I believe we may only be an hour over our original time of completion_' Icheb said.

"Azan here" said the boy as he tapped his badge. "One of the consoles fused and depolarised. Mezoti has gone down three decks in order to obtain the required parts. Because of the large amounts of power, she is unable to contact you directly" he added.

'_How is Rebi_?' asked Naomi. '_I haven't been able to contact him either_'

"I do not know" said Azan hesitantly. "He should have heard your hail. I shall attempt to locate him" but Icheb's voice came over the channel.

'_I have finished my current task. I will go locate Rebi and obtain a progress report_' he said.

'_Keep me informed, Naomi out_'

'_Icheb to Azan. How long until you have removed the secondary gyrodyne relay?_'

"I have not yet begun that task. The shield emitters are harder to remove then I expected them to be. I estimate ten minutes until I begin removing the relays" Azan said.

'_Very well. Complete your tasks while I search for Rebi. Icheb out_' Azan continued his work whilst talking to Mezoti who had reached the needed console.

"After I have finished my tasks, would you require… would like you some help?" asked Azan.

'_Thanks, Azan. I think that would be needed…_' Mezoti was cut off by Icheb shouting.

'_ICHEB TO _VOYAGER!_ MEDICAL EMERGENCY! TWO TO BEAM DIRECTLY TO SICKBAY!_'

'_What is going on?_' asked Mezoti over the comm link.

"I am uncertain" said Azan.

'_Naomi to Azan and Mezoti. Stop what you're doing. I'm beaming you back to the ship_' and a few moments later, Azan was beamed away and deposited in Sickbay along with a rather grubby looking Mezoti. Icheb was hovering a short distance away from the operating table where the Doctor rushed around attending to Rebi who had a large bleeding cut to his forehead. Azan battled down the odd feeling to run to his twin's side.

"This is no good" said the Doctor, and he turned to face Icheb. "I need you to assist me" he said.

"I have no medical qualifications" said Icheb.

"Yes… well you just became a nurse. Let's go!" and he dragged Icheb over to the table. Just as Naomi arrived at Sickbay, the Doctor asked everyone to leave while he and Icheb worked. They did so, and Azan and Mezoti went to get themselves cleaned up.

# # # # #

Mezoti stripped off and stood under the water shower and let it unwind and massage her aching muscles. As it did that and also cleaned the grime off that had clung to her like a second skin. Water showers were quite rare on _Voyager_ as well as most other Starfleet ships, but one or two rooms had them. When it was clear that they would be by themselves, Naomi had said they could all pick their own rooms as a place of sanctuary. The boys had gone for rooms near the cargo bay where they normally lived, but Mezoti had picked one with a real water shower near Naomi's quarters – the girl having refused to take Janeway's old quarters. As she stood under the water, Mezoti forgot about Rebi who had suffered nothing more then a fractured skull and a few cuts and bumps, and allowed her mind to think about what she had read about Norcadians and their development. As she did so, the girl let her hand drop downwards between her legs…

**A/N:**

**Well after a break of several months, I have updated with a new chapter!**

**To bring you all up to date, the crew were killed by a pathogen, but Naomi and borg kids survived. They effect repairs and bury the crew before heading back to the Alpha Quadrant. They meet up with some Norcadian ships who think they have kidnapped Mezoti (she's a member of their race) and there is a battle which ends up with a few ships disabled, one defiantly blown up and numerous casualties. After they have set off, they detect a Borg cube sitting dong nothing and so they begin salvage work.**

**Naomi is settling in to her new role as Captain very well so far.**

**Regarding Mezoti, this was something discussed at great length by me and XRaiderV1 though many nights and he suggested to me that I show Mezoti going through the Norcadian version of puberty, as should the rest of the kids. However, we came up with an interesting plot idea, so you'll have to wait a while. And if anyone from the fanfiction staff happens to read this, then rest assured we have worked it out in such a way that it passes your ratings and standards. There will be no explicit stuff going on, but I shall mention it in passing between the Doctor and Mezoti. Tell me what you think of this please - sometimes even *I* need your help!**

**Now if you all wait a little while – about a month/two months – then you will get multiple new chapters from me regarding updates from me in the following genres: Harry Potter, HarryPotter/Worst Witch, Lazytown, Star Trek Voyager, Battlestar Galactica and maybe even a little Power Rangers if you're all very lucky. ****If anyone has any good plot ideas (or really bad ones lol), then send them in.**

**Please review - reviews make me happy and smiling and bubbly and will help stoke my mind for another chapter - possiblly involving the Borg.**

**Regards**

**Robert**

**Pixel And Stephanie's **_**real **_**name for those who didn't know!**


	7. The Beginning Of The Way Home

**The Beginning Of The Way Home**

They finished the salvaging the next day, and after destroying the remains of the cube with its own warp core, Naomi ordered _Voyager_ to resume its course back to the Alpha Quadrant. The data they had taken from the cube's navigational logs indicated that there was a distinct lack of Borg activity in this area, and Icheb had updated their course with this and other information. After recalculating the route, he managed to scrape two months off the final total. Naomi looked around the otherwise empty bridge as most of the consoles hummed, beeped or twittered to themselves, and then the girl sighed heavily to herself in annoyance. Most of the others were asleep or regenerating in alcoves. Because of the low amounts of Borg technology, the former drones did not need to regenerate as much as Seven and the Doctor had made out at first. They had found that they could sleep normally, and did do, except for three times a month when they had to regenerate. The Doctor had been working for a few months now to remove most of the remaining implants. He planned to dissolve them like Kes had done to Seven when she had first come onboard – minus the mental powered assist she had used.

"Morning, Naomi" said Icheb as he stepped on the bridge to begin his shift.

"I'm glad you're here, Icheb. I was beginning to get cramps in places you wouldn't think of" Naomi stretched her legs before getting up to head to the turbolift and her nice comfy bed.

"I have the bridge" Icheb said formally. He was halfway to the Captain's chair when the tactical console started beeping. Naomi froze as Icheb slipped past to look at it.

"What is it?" she asked him.

"Four ships coming out of the nebula bearing 234 mark 123" Icheb said. "They are on an intercept course"

"Do we know them?" asked Naomi, and then she saw Icheb become pale as the sensors identified the incoming ships.

"Borg Cubes" he replied, looking up and meeting her shocked gaze.

"Red Alert! Shields up, and ready Phasers" Naomi ordered. The alarms blared out as Icheb obeyed the order and readied the ship for battle. She rushed over to the helm and sat down in the seat. "Time to intercept?" she asked.

"Twenty seconds" Icheb said. The turbolift doors opened and the twins and Mezoti ran out.

"What is going on?" asked Mezoti.

"Four Borg ships are on an intercept course"

"Shit" the normally pleasant girl swore.

"My words exactly" replied Icheb. "You can take the tactical station. You are much better at shooting things, and you are the one with the most time on it" and without another word, he stepped aside for her to take the station. Azan and Rebi had taken the Operations and Engineering stations respectively, and only the science station was left unmanned.

"Icheb, you have the helm. I don't think we can out run them, so we need creative flying" Naomi said. With nothing else to do, she went and joined Mezoti to halve the work load.

"We are being hailed" said Azan.

"Tell them that they can to hell" Naomi said. She engaged the viewer in time to see the lead cube fire disrupters at Voyager. The ship shook as Mezoti replied with full phasers, and they caused the cube's shield to flicker slightly. "Shields are at 96 percent" Naomi said.

"I have been scanning these cubes" Azan said. "They appear to have some kind of additional plating on their hulls. I Believe they are Tactical Cubes" he added as the ship shook from the assault of all four cubes.

"Phasers are beginning to have no effect" Mezoti said. "I am rotating the frequencies, but they adapt too quickly to us" and the rear consoles overloaded again, as did several power lines in the ceiling.

"We can't hold off four tactical cubes" Naomi said. "Icheb, how well did you install the Borg shields and weapons?" she asked him.

"Everything is installed" Icheb replied, swinging Voyager around so that it didn't get hit by torpedoes.

"Lets see how they test then" Naomi muttered.

"Activating Borg systems" Azan said.

"We've lost internal communications" said Rebi. "One of the forward torpedo launchers is leaking radiation, and it is moving aft. Emergency force fields are only at half strength"

"Borg systems are online" Azan said.

"Good" Naomi said thickly. "Stand by all weapons" she ordered.

"Standing by" Mezoti replied crisply.

"We're through running from these bastards" Naomi said. "Bring us about and prepare to engage the enemy" and Icheb swung Voyager around and put the vessel on a direct course for the nearest cube.

"Target locked" Mezoti said.

"FIRE!" and Borg disrupters and torpedoes sprung from Voyager and ripped through the shields of the Borg who didn't expect this. The plating of the Tactical cube was ripped apart, and the weapons flew in and detonated the power core – tearing the ship to pieces.

"Yes!" Mezoti watched the explosion from her console, and one cube vanished off sensors.

"Switch to secondary target and fire again" Naomi said. After being pounded at, the hunted became the hunter and Voyager attacked the remaining cubes one by one. Naomi and Mezoti took a grim pleasure in tearing them apart, and both girls criss-crossed the debris with more weapons fire to ensure that nothing was left that could harm them.

"All cubes have been destroyed" Azan said.

"Very well" Naomi said. "All stop. All stations: damage report" she added.

"We lost power to decks 4 through 9, we have a couple of micro fractures in the hull, torpedo launcher 2 is still leaking plasma radiation…" Rebi said, and listed the rest of the damage sustained.

"We have full warp drive and our impulse engines are responding, though they are sluggish slightly due to a few minor impacts" Icheb said.

"Standard weapons and shields are at 50% power each" Mezoti said. "Borg systems are at 100% though" she added.

"Are there any more cubes in range?" asked Naomi.

"Negative" replied Azan. "None of our sensors can pick any vessels up that are close to us. This doesn't exclude the chance more Borg vessels are on the way in transwarp space" and Naomi rolled her eyes.

"Always one with the good news" she muttered. Stand down from Red Alert, but keep an eye out for the smallest sign of trouble. Scan the debris for anything that you can salvage" the girl said to Azan.

"Understood" he replied, and set to his work.

"Rebi, Mezoti you are with me. Icheb, you have the bridge" and with that, Naomi and two of her friends left the bridge to begin effecting repairs.

# # # # #

"This is hard enough as it is" said Mezoti. She was in an environmental suit because radiation from the launcher. Naomi and Rebi were covered in the same manner, and all three worked on plugging the leak before it spread more.

"Makes you wish for a full crew" Naomi said as she used an arc welder to secure a replacement valve.

"Azan to Naomi"

"Go ahead"

"The leak has stopped, but radiation is still coming from the launcher. I think one of the torpedoes must be damaged" he added.

"Can you beam it into space?"

"No"

"Too much of a risk to throw it out of the shuttle…" Naomi paused in thought.

"Is something that matter?" asked Mezoti.

"We already have a ready made hole" Naomi mused. "I'm going to push the torpedo out of the launcher by hand, and then Icheb can destroy it with phasers" and Mezoti and Rebi weighed up the risks.

"But the radiation could kill you, Naomi" said Mezoti carefully.

"True, but then again one life for many is worth the price" and Naomi stepped into torpedo bay and sealed the door behind her.

"Rebi to the Bridge. Prepare to beam Naomi aboard" he spoke into the suit's comm. As it happened, Naomi was in sickbay for several days because of the radiation she had absorbed into her body. Both of the forward launchers had been cleaned out, stocked up from the magazines, and phasers had been brought up to 50% of standard power. Naomi still wanted to use the Borg weaponry as much as possible though. After the attack by the Borg, nothing happened for several weeks as they cruised in low warp as they made final tests on the Transwarp Drive. The monotony of shift after shift with nothing but minor course corrections had grated on the nerves of Mezoti and Icheb, and so they had arranged for the Doctor to cover an entire two days worth of shifts so that the former drones and Naomi could go camping – something they had never done before in their lives.

#

It was the end of the sixth week after the Borg attacks when everything started to happen once more

#

"Captain on the bridge!" Mezoti grinned as Naomi stepped out of the turbolift. It was Naomi's birthday, and one of the few days when she – or any of the other former drones – could get away with calling Naomi 'Captain'.

"What do we have?" Naomi asked as she stepped to Tactical.

"Sensors have detected a small wormhole approximately two light years away from us" Icheb said from over at Ops.

"Where does it lead to?" Naomi asked as she started hoping it was a way back to the Alpha Quadrant.

"Unknown" supplied Mezoti. "We are about to launch a probe to investigate. Prelimenary reading indicate that this may have some abnormal features" she added.

"Indeed" agreed Icheb. "Readings indicate that this wormhole is not big enough to allow _Voyager_ to fly through. However…" but Naomi was already ahead of him.

"We could widen it for a short period, go inside and maybe cut a few years off the journey" she nodded. "Launch the probe, and give me a report in about ten minutes. I'll be in the ready room" and with that, the girl went into what she still considered Janeway's Ready Room and started going over fuel reports and supplies. They had enough deuterium to last another four weeks so long as they went no faster then Warp 6. The twins were currently in the shuttlebay getting all the fuel out of everything but the _Delta Flyer_ and a couple of the larger shuttles in order to stretch the situation just a little longer.

#

"… this time" Icheb finished his report to everyone in the conference room.

"I would like to take a close look at those readings" the Doctor asked politely. "Radiation inside wormholes can cause serious health issues" he added.

"That is why we would raise our shields as we passage through the opening" said Mezoti. "Once we are safely past the first thirty seconds, we can go from impulse drive to engaging the Borg Transwarp drive" and Azan tapped a panel on the table top.

"Despite the fact the wormhole most likely ends up in the Delta Quadrant, once we have entered Transwarp, we can get to the Alpha Quadrant in a little under sixteen hours" he said.

"After all this time, sixteen hours seems like an age" the Doctor said.

"What do you think will happen to us?" asked Mezoti.

"I don't know" said Naomi truthfully. "Starfleet will want to debrief you on everything you know about the Borg, their tactics and heaven knows what else I suppose" she added.

"Do you think they will cut us up?" asked Azan.

"I doubt that very much" the Doctor assured him.

"This is Starfleet, Doctor" Icheb said. "We are unable to determine if the Admiralty has had an intelligence removal performed on themselves" and it took a few moments for the others to realise Icheb had made a joke.

"Are there any ships nearby?" asked Naomi.

"There are three transports on the extreme edge of sensors" reported Rebi. "They will not come any nearer to us. Current indications are no Borg vessels nearby, however sensors are scanning all the time for changes in that status" he added.

"Right then" Naomi thought long and hard. "I want sensors manned all the time. The rest of us will secure the ship for transport through the wormhole and Transwarp space. The damage we have sustained will have to wait until later. If we manage to actually get through this, and we end up in the Alpha Quadrant, we'll get all of the support we need" and she dismissed the meeting.

#

**24 Hours Later**

"Begin long range scan of the surrounding area for any ships" Icheb ordered.

'_Acknowledged_' replied the computer. '_There are no ships within sensor range_' it reported after a few minutes. Icheb worked on the bridge consoles alone before the others arrived.

"Report" Naomi said. Icheb reflected on how far she had come since her mother's death. She had been forced to grow up at an extraordinary rate, and had to take on many adult situations and problems.

"We have no ships within sensor range, the ship is secured for transit and we are ready to get underway" Icheb said. Naomi nodded and manned her mother's old station.

"Set course for the threshold of the wormhole, and got to yellow alert" she ordered. Mezoti brought the shields up, and put the weapons on hot standby. _Voyager_ moved forwards the wormhole, and the ship shook a little from the turbulence but it kept on moving.

"We have reached the outer layer of the wormhole" said Rebi, and the viewscreen was filled with swirling blue light with white energy sparks dancing all around them.

"Radiation increasing to harmful levels" said Azan.

"Auxilary power to shields" said Naomi.

"Aye" and Azan placed more power into the shields. The ship shook and tremored as it was buffeted by the turbulence, but after a few moments it stopped and all was peaceful.

"Damage report" Naomi called out.

"Hull damage to decks 2 through 7. Forcefields are in place and holding. Impulse drive is offline, and the starboard power coupling has fused. Shields are at 75%, but holding. We lost the forward phaser array, but all other systems are operational" Azan said. Naomi scanned the space around them for both ships and the scientific data she could collect.

"Icheb?" she turned in her seat. "Is the ship capable of using the Transwarp Drive?" and Icheb nodded.

"Transwarp Drive is at your command" he said.

"Lay in the course for the point of arrival in the Alpha Quadrant, and pass it to helm" Naomi said. Moments later, _Voyager_ had left the wormhole and had entered Transwarp space towards the Alpha Quadrant.

#

With nothing to do for the sixteen hours it would take for them to complete the transit, the former drones and Naomi had taken the chance to get a little rest. The Doctor was compiling reports for Starfleet Medical, and he was excited to have the chance to visit his creator again. With the bridge running under computer control, Naomi decided to go play in the Flotter and Treevis programs. As she passed Holodeck 1, she heard a lot of screaming from inside. Using her override, Naomi opened the doors to the holodeck and saw Mezoti engaged in something she thought was for adults only. Mezoti was completely naked with an older girl with her head between Mezoti's legs near her groin. Turning extremely red in the face, Naomi turned round and ran out of the room and raced to the Doctor. Mezoti had ended the program, dressed quickly and hurried after her friend. Both she and the Doctor explained to Naomi that Mezoti was going through a period of puberty, and that the program was designed to bleed off some of the Norcadian's urges whilst she went through the changes.

"Why a girl though?" Naomi asked.

"During puberty, Norcadians become very sexually active. I studied my culture in the Borg database, and well…" Mezoti trailed off and looked at the Sickbay floor.

"You should have just told me" Naomi said, hugging her friend, and after making up the pair went off to Naomi's quarters for Ice Cream. The Doctor watched them go before turning back to his report making. Apart from the reports to Starfleet Medical, he was also taking the chance to make a full inventory of all medical equipment and drugs – one never knew what Starfleet Command would need.

#

**Fifteen Hours Thirty Minutes Later**

_Voyager_ had travelled through Transwarp space with few issues other then course corrections here and there. All sensors were recording as much information on the trip as possible for research purposes. They had all arrived on the bridge an hour before they were due to drop out of Transwarp space because Naomi wanted everybody to be ready. During the trip, they had managed to get impulse working at 50% power so they could at least limp to Deep Space Nine.

"I wonder if we'll get a big party" Mezoti spoke aloud.

"I hope so" Naomi giggled, "And with a cake about ten fee…" she was cut off as the ship violently trembled, shook, pitched and came to a jarring halt.

**A/N:**

**I realised I still had this outstanding on my list, and so I thought I'd do a little to it – ending up as just over 7000 words which I have had to split into two separate chapters. Therefore chapter 7 is today, and if you are good little elves and review, chapter 8 will be tomorrow!**

**No doubt people will flame me for the Mezoti in the adult situation scene, but I'd point out that it was with a hologram and as they don't exist it is technically masturbation – and this is an M rated fic anyway so if you don't like it, don't let the back button hit you on the way out!**

**Now for a request from the author:**

**If anybody out there speaks good Russian, or is in fact Russian themselves, can they please make themselves known as I am in need of your help. I picked up some rather odd radio broadcasts, and I know they are in Russian, but would like a translation please. Your help shall be rewarded in chapter 8 or chapter 9.**

**Many Regards**

**Pixel**

**Now available for Bar and Bat Mitzvahs as well as Weddings, Birthdays and After Dinner Speaking**


	8. The Return

**The Return**

"REPORT!" Naomi yelled over the alarms sounding over the bridge.

"We have been thrown out of Transwarp space" Icheb said. "I believe there was an unpredictable failure, and the computer simply disengaged the drive from the main systems" he added.

"Where are we?" Naomi asked.

"Checking…" Mezoti was at Tactical as always, and she called up the star charts as Icheb and the twins worked on compiling a damage report. "We are inside Cardassian space" she said after a few moments.

"Damage report" Azan said. "We have hull breaches on most decks, but forcefields are in place at most locations. The outer hull has partially collapsed in seven places on Decks 3 through 7, Active sensors are down, Transwarp is offline, life support is damaged, holographic systems are down, main power is offline…" the boy stopped as he knew a full list would take hours to report. "Warp power is failing, but we can get Warp 3 for five minutes precisely" he added.

"I'll take that" Naomi said. "Computer, lay in a course heading of 132 mark 332 and engage at Warp 3" and _Voyager_ groaned as she turned slowly round and leapt to Warp speed. The entire time it felt like it was breaking apart at the seams, and Naomi wondered if she should order everyone to Abandon Ship.

"I am detecting a vessel nearby" Rebi said. "I believe it is moving to intercept us" he added.

"What? Here? Can you identify?" Naomi asked.

"Not at the range and with passive sensors only" Rebi said.

"Time to intercept?" Naomi asked.

"One minute"

"Time to federation border?"

"Thirteen minutes"

"What do we have that actually works on this ship?" asked Naomi. She was running through every possible situation in her mind.

"Not much" replied Icheb. "But we do have one Borg disruptor beam still in operation, although it is only at 28% power" he added.

"Azan, cut all power except to the engines, our only weapon, bridge consoles and the lights. I think we can go without everything else for a while" Naomi made a quick decision based on the facts she had at hand.

"You hope that our reduced power use will extend the life of ourselves at warp" Mezoti said to her best friend.

"Every second we can last at warp will get us closer to the Federation" Naomi nodded.

"I have managed to gain another minute of warp travel" said Azan, "But we will be on battery power only until we can get assistance from a Federation starship" he added.

"Vessel coming into firmer contact range" Rebi called out from the helm. "It is a vessel unfamiliar to me. I am running it through the computer" and there was a pause which was filled only with the moans and groans as the mighty ship attempted to make it over the border and into federation space.

"Do you have an identification?" asked Icheb after a moment too long.

"Affirmitive" Rebi called. "The computer identifies as a Jem'Hadar Battleship" and Naomi went cold as she realised that they were the Federation's, Klingons', Romulans' and just about every other race in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants enemies.

"Maintain course and speed" she ordered. "Standby to drop out of warp. Power up the Borg disruptor" and the lights on the bridge dimmed so that the consoles seemed brighter then normal.

"It was the only way to keep our velocity going as long as possible" Azan offered as an explanation.

"Distance of the Jem'Hadar vessel?" asked Naomi.

"30,000 kilometres off our stern" Mezoti said. Naomi looked at the read out of her console at Science, and suddenly came up with a plan.

"Mezoti, target the disruptor on the warp engines of the ship and prepare to fire. Rebi, I want you to take us out of warp on my signal" the girl ordered.

"May I ask what you plan to do?" asked Icheb.

"We are going to slam on the brakes and let them fly right past us" Naomi explained. "And when they fly right over and past us, we…"

"…open fire with the disruptor" finished Icheb. The former drone was greatly impressed with the tactic devised by his young friend.

"Target located and locked" Mezoti said.

"Distance now 25,000 kilometres" Azan said.

"ALL STOP!" Naomi said, and she was thrown from her seat as Rebi dumped the warp speed and brought the ship to a jarring halt. It shook a second time as the Jem'Hadar vessel skimmed the dorsal hull of _Voyager_ and passed over and by them.

"I have a shot" Mezoti said.

"Reconfirm targeting and fire!" Naomi yelled as she regained her seat once more. Mezoti verified the targeting, and fired the single working weapon on the ship. It blasted through the shields of the battleship, tore into the starboard nacelle and caused huge explosions in the enemy ship which brought it out of all stability. The green beam shot forth from the Starfleet vessel several times until it hit an Anti-Matter tank and blew the entire ship to pieces.

"Target destroyed" said Mezoti.

"Naomi Wildman" Icheb intoned solemnly, "I regret to inform you that we now have no weapons, our warp drive is completely inoperable and the best we can manage is half impulse" and he seemed rather apologetic.

"What is the condition of the ship?" asked Mezoti.

"Did I not just say such?" Icheb sounded a little confused.

"I think she meant about the actual structure of the vessel" Rebi said.

"I believe Mr Paris would have said that things were terribly in the shi…"

'_Atmospheric loss has been detected on Decks 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 11. Recommend evacuation of these decks_' voiced the computer.

"Do we have communications?" asked Naomi. "We have to let Starfleet know where we are, and what are situation is. We've done a good job, but this is more then what we can handle" she said.

"I think long range communications are online" Azan said, "However I maybe experiencing false display readings" he added.

"Record the following message, and then transmit on all Starfleet emergency frequencies" Naomi said.

"Ready" said Azan after a moment.

"MADAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! This is the Federation Starfleet vessel _USS Voyager_ returned from the Delta Quadrant and under my command. We are severely crippled and almost uncontrollable. We are badly damaged, several decks have been demolished and request immediate assistance and rescue. Our coordinates are 4159.26 by 81921 by 312. Our heading is 212 mark 35. Our hopeful destination is Deep Space Nine. I repeat: This is the federation starship _USS Voyager_ to any Starfleet personnel. We have returned from the Delta Quadrant and are in need of urgent basic support and medical assistance. _Voyager_ out" Naomi indicated to Azan who sent the message out. "Best speed for Deep Space Nine, Rebi" she asked.

"I will attempt to comply" said the boy. He managed to get the badly wounded ship crawling towards what they thought was safety. "Estimate Deep Space Nine in three weeks" he said.

"Lets hope they can get to us a lot sooner then it takes for us to get there" Naomi said. "Azan, get me a view of the hull please. Doesn't matter where, I just want to take a look" and the viewscreen flickered to a kind of static filled screen and showed the hull.

"What the hell…?" Naomi smiled at Mezoti's offering. Nearly all of the outer hull had been torn off from midships on the dorsal section, cabins, corridors and compartments could be seen through the huge gaping holes in the vessel, and everyone could see the Oxygen escaping from the ship like blood from a dying animal.

"We are not going to make it" said Rebi as he sat at the helm.

"We'll try our best, and then we'll abandon ship and use the shuttles – assuming we can get to them" Naomi added. Power down everything except the bridge consoles, engines and life support. Keep communications online as well. The same goes for sensors. I want to have some idea as to what is going on outside" and she and her friends hurried to shut down and save as much power as was possible. It was fortunate that they had taken the precaution of storing rations and their old sleeping bags in the ready room should they all need to be in the one location. A few medkits also had been placed in the room because they feared being caught without the Doctor – much like the crisis now.

# # # # #

_USS Enterprise_

Patrolling near the Biranu Sector

"You can not be serious, Admiral!" Picard said.

"I am, Captain" replied Admiral Hayes. The man on Picard's screen nodded off screen and he looked back at Picard. "We're sending you the transmission now, but that is all we have. Do what you have to in order to save those survivors" Hayes said. "An SCE vessel will meet up with you as you head to the system. Hayes out" and the Admiral vanished from the screen. Picard sat and sipped his tea and thought for a long moment before heading out to the bridge – a hive of activity.

"Ensign Winton, lay in a course for the Pythia system – warp 9" he ordered, and the _Enterprise_ swung round and hurtled through the stars. "All senior officers report to the bridge. Lieutenant McKnight, you have the bridge" and with that Picard went to the conference room to await his senior staff.

#

"Is Starfleet sure about this?" asked Beverley Crusher, one of Picard's closest friends.

"Very" Picard replied. "Computer, playback the recording of _Voyager_'s transmission" and the computer chimed before playing Naomi's voice.

'_MADAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! This is the Federation Starfleet vessel _USS Voyager_ returned from the Delta Quadrant and under my command. We are severely crippled and almost uncontrollable. We are badly damaged, several decks have been demolished and request immediate assistance and rescue. Our coordinates are 4159.26 by 81921 by 312. Our heading is 212 mark 35. Our hopeful destination is Deep Space Nine. I repeat: This is the federation starship _USS Voyager_ to any Starfleet personnel. We have returned from the Delta Quadrant and are in need of urgent basic support and medical assistance. _Voyager_ out_'

"Do we know who sent the call?" asked Riker.

"Starfleet does not have a voice file that matches" Picard said. "However, it could be a member of the Marquis that Captain Janeway took aboard. Regardless of the situation, they are in need of desperate help. Their coordinates put them _inside_ Dominion controlled space, and this was sent at least two weeks ago. If they got to Deep Space Nine, then they would have found the Dominion waiting there for them. They may have seen them and gone silent, and headed out of the system – the reason we are dropping out so far from Bajoran space. Beverley, I want all of your sickbays ready to receive heavy casualties" Picard ordered his crew to be ready to lend any and all assistance to _Voyager_'s crew.

#

It had been just over three weeks since their dramatic arrival to the Alpha Quadrant, and it had showed on the group. Clothes hung loosely on them, and each of them had taken to sleeping when not taking a turn manning the bridge. They had managed to get within Bajoran space before picking up all the Dominion fleet at Deep Space Nine, and they had turned away and headed out the system – but putting the sun behind them so that the shadow of the Bajoran sun would shield them from sensors for a while.

'_Vess… proac… nabl… tify_' said the computer. It had been steadily failing for the previous week, and there was no possible way that any of them could go down and repair the computer core.

"Anybody care to guess what it just said?" Naomi asked as she roused herself from her sleeping bag.

"I believe the computer was attempting to alert us to two incoming ships" Icheb called from the bridge.

"Dominion ships?" asked Naomi.

"I can not tell" replied Icheb. "Sensor resolution has fallen another 26%" he added. Naomi knew this was it, and she shook Mezoti and the twins awake. The four of them headed out into the bridge and assumed their stations for what they thought would be the final time. Naomi verified that the Auto Destruct was still working, and then looked at the barely functional display. The damage to the rest of the ship had hit the bridge, hard, and broken panel, bits of cabling, pipes and circuitry littered the deck. The group had given up hope of fixing it, and so had let the vessel slowly die.

"Do you want me to evade?" asked Rebi, seating himself at helm.

"No point" said Naomi. "We're not going anywhere, but perhaps we can take them with us. I want you to ram them, Rebi" and there was a hushed silence on the bridge.

"Understood" he said simply.

"We are being boarded" Azan said, and several beams of light appeared on the bridge. Naomi was about to hit the button to blow up the remains of _Voyager_ when she noticed them forming into Starfleet officers. She recognised them as mostly from the _Enterprise_. The arrivals sniffed the air and could both smell and taste the stale air. it had been like that for a couple of days since life support had gone to the rapidly drained batteries.

"I am Commander Riker of the starship _Enterprise_" Riker said. "Where are the crew?" he asked as he looked at the group occupying the bridge.

"They are all dead" said Mezoti simply. Riker's hand went down to his phaser, and Naomi put herself between them smoothly.

"When did this happen?" he asked.

"A little over two years ago" Azan said. "There was a virus transported onboard this ship which killed the crew. Only ourselves and the holographic Doctor survived" he said in a crisp tone.

"I suppose you are in charge" Riker asked Icheb.

"No, that would be my Captain" Icheb replied.

"Captain Janeway?" Riker was confused. "I thought you said she was dead" and Naomi couldn't help but smile at the confusion in the man's face.

"I suppose introductions are in order" she said. "That is Icheb, the other two boys are twins named Azan and Rebi and the girl is Mezoti. Oh, and my name is Naomi Wildman. I am laughably called Captain of this mess. Welcome aboard the starship _Voyager_" Naomi watched as that information appeared to go through Riker's mind.

"I would like to get these children to Sickbay" said the Doctor among them. She had been using her tricorder to scan each of them. "They need urgent medical attention. I'll have Troi speak to them as well" and Riker nodded at her.

"I'll start getting a survey done on the ship, and see if it is capable of being towed to the nearest Starbase" he said. "It might just be that Starfleet orders us to get anything of use and then scuttle the ship" and the children gathered in the middle of the bridge. Just as they beamed off _Voyager_, Naomi turned to Riker.

"You have the bridge, Commander" and then she was whisked away.

#

"Well you are all done now" said Crusher. She had given each of them a bowl of soup, some tea and then sent them to use the sonic shower in their temporary quarters on the _Enterprise_. She was amazed at the level of health they had kept up despite being on their own for over 2 years. The last few weeks though had taken their toll on Naomi as her friends had been eating as little as possible so that she could not be hungry.

"Should I go to my quar… where are they taking my friends?" asked Naomi. She saw them being led out of Sickbay by a squad of security officers.

"Starfleet has ordered them escorted" Crusher said. "A lot of people lost family and friends at both Wolf 359 and the fight in Earth orbit" and Naomi's forehead wrinkled as she thought about it.

"Can I speak to Captain Picard now?" she asked.

"He is very busy to speak to you right now, but I am sure he will get round to speaking to you soon" said the Doctor. "You may go now" she added, and Naomi hopped off the biobed and left Sickbay. Deciding to cut out the wait, she asked directions to the nearest turbolift and went to see Picard.

#

"Come!" and Naomi entered Picard's ready room with the bridge crew all looking at her. "Is there something I can do?" asked the Captain. He was surprised that a child had entered the bridge, but he sensed something mature about this girl.

"Captain Picard, I was wondering you could tell me the latest news about _Voyager_. When we left, we were on the point of breaking up" Naomi said.

"It is amazing how it is still flyable" Picard said. "According to the engineering staff, they should be able to make the ship safe to travel at low warp in a few days time. The main thing is to get all of the data out of the computers for safety. The only problem is that the computer is not recognising any of the work crew's codes" and Naomi nodded in understanding.

"I encrypted the computers in case we were taken over by the Dominion. If the Auto Destruct had not worked, then I wasn't going to give them the ship without a fight. I'll beam over and release computer control" the girl said.

"Before you do, Miss Wildman, I would like to know what happened to you after you was put in charge of _Voyager_" Picard said, and got the girl a drink from the replicator.

"I did make a report during our trip through transwarp space" Naomi said calmly, and Picard nearly spat his tea out at the casual mention of the lair of the Borg. "Oh you better warn your people that there's a Borg Transwarp Drive installed in engineering – might want to be careful around it" Naomi added.

"I'll tell them in a little while" replied Picard. "Perhaps you would like to visit the former drones in their quarters? I shall inform security you may have a ten minute visit, and then we'll arrange some counselling sessions for you" but Naomi shook her head.

"I can vouch for them, Captain Picard. I have known them for over 4 years now, and I would trust them with my life. If I had had any problems with them, I would have left them on a planet or confined them to quarters" Naomi finished her milkshake and looked at Picard with eyes far older then her years. "If you do not set them free, then I won't release the computer" and she sat back and folded her arms in wait.

"Your friends will be set free, and they will be allowed almost total access over the ship, but they will have an escort because of the ill feelings of some of the crew" Picard wondered why he felt so frightened of a 12 year old girl when he had faced the Borg.

"Okay…" Naomi was halfway to the door when she turned back. "Exactly what is going to happen to _Voyager_? And please be honest" she requested.

"From the reports I have read already, I believe that the ship will be decommissioned and scrapped" Picard replied honestly.

"WHAT?" Naomi shouted so loud, the bridge crew was thinking of coming to their Captain's aid. "You can't do that" she said with a look of fury on her face she had once seen B'Lanna Torres do. "_Voyager_ is the only place I have ever called home" and with that she left the ready room. Picard thought long and hard about what had been said. He thought his reaction would be the same if someone told him that the _Enterprise_ was going to be cut up for scrap.

#

"At least there was always somebody on duty on _Voyager_…" Naomi muttered. She worked the console for a few moments and then stepped on the pad to beam over.

"What are you doing here?" asked a technician as Naomi materialised.

"I'm here to unlock the computer for downloading to the _Enterprise_" Naomi said, and went to the rear bridge consoles. They had cleaned up the bridge somewhat, and the hanging pipes and wires had been secured to what remained of the ceiling. The debris had been piled to one side, but it seemed as if they had not managed to close the doors as she could see into both the ready room and the conference room. "Computer, request unlocking of library computer"

'_Wequairst ore throw is heytion kode_' the computer had been patched, Naomi figured, but speech had not been a high point of the repair lists.

"Authorisation code Flotter T Water the Third" and the other bridge consoles flickered to life.

'_Kurlearence grar tid_' the computer replied.

"What do you think you are doing?" asked Riker from the turbolift.

"Captain Picard asked me to beam over and unlock the computers so you could begin downloading the information" Naomi said, then she looked back at the technician. "Reenergise the uptronic data link" she told him. The man was surprised to hear such technical knowledge coming from a young girl, but did so which solved the computer's voice issues.

"I think you should go back to the _Enterprise_ now" said Riker.

"I think otherwise" Naomi said, and at that moment her friends beamed over with more engineering personnel.

"Well I am in charge here, and I am ordering you to return to the ship" Riker said.

"I believe that Naomi is in charge of this ship" Icheb said calmly.

"I don't have time for this" Riker muttered, and grabbed Naomi by the wrist and pulled her away from the console.

"Release her at once!" said Mezoti – voice echoing in the nearly silent bridge. Riker was surprised by the tone to let go, and Naomi rubbed her aching wrist and then saw her bracelet was broken – a gift from Icheb several days before they had arrived at the wormhole.

"I heard that there was some commotion" a deep voice boomed. Worf – the only Klingon serving in Starfleet – was standing with one hand on his phaser.

"Commander Riker physically assaulted me" Naomi said. "Arrest him" she added.

"I think they need those sessions with Troi, Worf" Riker said. "She thinks she is in charge, and so do her friends" and Naomi shook her head.

"I warned you" she told him "Computer, who am I?" she asked.

'_Naomi Wildman_'

"Who is the current commanding officer of the _USS Voyager_?"

'_Captain Naomi Wildman_' the computer replied. Azan and Rebi shared knowing looks, Mezoti grinned at what was to come whilst Icheb was hard pressed to not break into a smile himself.

"Commander Worf, I want you to place Commander Riker under arrest for assault of a minor, incitement to mutiny, attempted mutiny, assault of a superior officer…" Naomi looked down at her broken bracelet. "… and wilful destruction of federation property. Take him back to the _Enterprise_, place him in the brig and then report what has happened to Captain Picard. I shall speak to him in ten minutes – dismiss" and with that she turned and walked back to the amazed technician and started speaking to him about the damage to _Voyager_.

#

Word had spread about _Voyager_'s return from the Delta Quadrant, and a number of starships had arrived to help shepherd it back to the federation fleet. It had taken four days at Warp 1 to reach the Starbase, and although the group was physically and mentally exhausted, they stood on the bridge as an experienced crew slid the ship into a parking position around the Starbase. There was the issue of a nearly twelve year old girl commanding a starship – albeit a badly smashed up on – but Naomi had solved it by ordering the course to Starbase 375 and then turning over the ship to the senior engineer from the _Da Vinci_. Crusher had the group on a couple of hyposprays a day because of the wasted muscles and below normal weight from eating just emergency rations for four weeks. The newly restored EMH was taking good care of them as the five had wanted their own Doctor when it could be helped. This had been granted as it was then made part of their rehabilitation program. Naomi's father had been located, and he was being shipped to the base aboard a brand new _Defiant_ class vessel at that very moment.

"We have arrived" said the officer at helm.

"Hail the Starbase" ordered Naomi.

"They're responding" said the Ensign. "On screen" and the partially repaired main viewscreen flickered, died and then came to life.

"Admiral Ross, This is the Starship _Voyager_ returning under my charge. Mission complete" Naomi said, standing at parade attention like she had seen Tuvok and several of the other Vulcans do. The crew as a whole had done it, but Naomi had always been in awe of the Vulcans in their preciseness.

"_Understood, Captain Wildman. Report to my office at 17:30 this evening_"

"Aye, Admiral. _Voyager_ out" and the screen went dark again. "I want full reports sent to the station" Naomi said. "I'll be returning to the _Enterprise_" and the crew stood respectfully as Naomi was beamed off the bridge. It was the least they could have done for the girl whom had helmed _Voyager_ home after facing so many odds. The engineering crews set to work shoring up the damage until a decision could be made about the ship's future. Scuttlebutt had it that it was to be decommissioned and scrapped – the damage being too great. Even though it was a temporary assignment for them, the men and women felt it was not a fitting fate for the ship that had rightfully earned a place alongside James Kirk's _Enterprise-A_, Hikaru Sulu's _Excelsior_ and other ships given an honourable retirement in the Fleet Museum. However, if Starfleet ordered the _Voyager_ to be cut up and her parts reused, then that is what they would have to do.

**A/N:**

**Just face it – I AM A FANFICTION LEGEND! Another exciting chapter of the story that has been long overdue in being updated.**

**Next chapter we'll be dealing with the debriefings, the meeting between Naomi and her father, what is going to happen to the former drones and the EMH plus the fate of **_**Voyager**_**. Well after a small incident on the way to Earth that is…**

**Now I have to admit to a little moving around of the universe, and mention that the coordinates Naomi gives are actually for the planet Bynus in the Beta Magellen system – simply because it was the only position described fully which was in the Alpha Quadrant.**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and can't wait to see what you think of it.**

**Regards**

**Pixel**


	9. One More Round

**One More Round**

Admiral Ross and his staff had been downright amazed by the accounts given by the group. Apart from the logs made by the crew, the children had made logs of their own and submitted those as well engineering logs, cargo and supply manifests, navigational logs, scientific data on planets in the Delta Quadrant and much more. Each of them had submitted their own personal logs, and delivered their own accounts of what had happened to them and their friends. Specialists from Starfleet's Command, Intelligence and Engineering divisions came to Starbase 375 in order to examine the Borg components on _Voyager_. The group had remained on Starbase 375 for almost a month as they recovered from their ordeal, spent time in the medical facilities and were debriefed on what had happened to them. After the first week, Naomi's father had arrived on the station and they had spent hours just talking while the former drones were given another examination. Naomi told her father all about what had happened since she was born, and that her mother had told her every night about him. He had taken as much time as he needed in order to get to know his daughter, and they went to one of the station's holodecks to play for hours in the Forest of Forever. Naomi was very happy to introduce Flotter and Trevis to her relative, and he in turn was surprised when they took him aside and told him of them times Samantha would bring Naomi down for a visit. Naomi also introduced him to her friends, and to his credit, Greskrendtregk only shuddered once or twice when he saw the Borg technology on their bodies. He saw them as victims rather then as the drones they once were. After the second week of being at the Starbase, there was the issue of Riker's Court Martial. Try as he might to excuse the incident, Picard had spoken with the officers and crew on the bridge of _Voyager_ and seen the record one had made with his tricorder. Given the fact that Naomi held the rank of Captain, the charge of assaulting a superior officer was a matter straight for the JAG.

#

"This case on Stardate 51337.2 is to hear the charges against Commander William T Riker of the Starship _Enterprise_. The charges are #. How do you plead?" asked the JAG officer.

"Not guilty to some of the charges" said Riker's defender.

"Very well. Please present your evidence" replied the JAG.

"Exactly two weeks ago, Commander Riker was tasked with the boarding of the _USS Voyager_ which had returned a month previous to that time from the Delta Quadrant. Skipping a few minor details, Miss Wildman was asked…"

"Objection" called the prosecution officer, a jovial man named Captain Bradford. "I believe that Naomi Wildman's rank of 'Captain' was confirmed by order of the President" and Naomi took a secret pleasure in watching a look of horror appear on Riker's face. He realised he could be demoted, demoted and jailed or demoted, jailed and then dismissed the service.

"Sustained" agreed the judge. "The defence shall refer to Naomi Wildman by her proper name and rank. Otherwise, I shall hold them in contempt of court" and the defence attorney apologised to Naomi before continuing his case.

"Facts were not made clear to my client before he touched Captain Wildman, otherwise he would have been more respectful. Standing orders are that children are not to be permitted on the bridge of an active duty starship – without an escort of course" added the man. The defence and prosecution traded blows for almost the full day, before the trial was adjourned for three hours so the JAG could decide upon a verdict.

#

"Children, your dinner is ready" Greskrendtregk called out. Naomi and the group raced to the dining table in the quarters they had been given on the Starbase. It never ceased to amaze the Katarian that they rushed to eat dinner. Although they had assured him they had eaten mostly well on _Voyager_ it had mainly been either replicated stuff or lately the emergency rations they had stockpiled. It had been decided by psycologists to keep the group together, or at least it was the decision after Naomi locked the chief shrink in his office playing music by a pair of terrible 21st Centaury singers named Jedward.

"Thanks, Dad" Naomi said as she sat at the dinner table. It was only recently that they could eat more normal foods as the medical personnel had given them all a diet to follow in order to get their weight back up to normal. The Doctor had provided them with the needed data to make a baseline for the former drones. He was assisting in making the secondary sickbay functional again so they had something for the ferry trip to wherever they were to go.

"I got a message from Admiral Ross" her father spoke. "He would like to see you and your friends in his office sometime tomorrow morning" and Naomi nodded as she ate a mouthful of chicken kiev.

"Did he mention why, Sir?" asked Icheb. He had some trouble calling Naomi's father by his name.

"I believe he mentioned something about awarding you all medals" Greskrendtregk said. "It seems that you did something of great importance…" he added dryly. All of their faces lit up like a sun, and the rest of the meal passed enjoyably as they chatted about what they would do that evening. The twins would be regenerating in their alcoves brought over from _Voyager_, Naomi would be spending time with her father whilst Icheb had a subspace meeting with Starfleet Academy to discuss his entry for that year's class. Mezoti was going to use one of the station's holodecks and make sure that her hormone drive had settled back down to a normal level. Naomi's father had been slightly repulsed by the revelation at first, but he had managed to beat it down so it no longer bothered him. He had been brought up by rather strict parents to believe in a relationship being male and female only. They had been so disappointed in his decision to marry Samantha Wildman that they had not attended the wedding. Two hours later, and the computer relayed a message for Naomi to go see the JAG officer.

#

"So what are you proposing?" asked Naomi to Picard. He was trying to get a bargain for his First Officer, but it was tough doing from the looks of it.

"Commander Riker is an exceptional officer, and I do know that he is sorry about what happened. He would like to apologise to you in private, and accepts he will not be getting any shore leave for the next six months" Picard said.

"So he breaks my bracelet, grabs and hurts me and gets a slap on the wrist?" Naomi raised an eyebrow like she had seen Seven often do. "I am afraid that is not good enough. He assaulted a superior officer, and he should be punished for it" and the JAG officer and Picard tried to reason with her.

"What would you suggest?" asked the judge. "We need all the officers we can get" he added.

"Well I'd put him in the brig for a whole year, but you are right about him being needed. I want an apology from him in public – written and verbal – him to be placed on report for six months, and put him in the stocks" Naomi finished with a dangerous grin.

"You mean the stockade?" questioned Picard.

"Captain, are you familiar with how they used to punish criminals in the old days on Earth?" Naomi asked. The JAG officer could see exactly what Naomi was thinking of, and he privately agreed with it. Picard was also thinking along the same lines.

"I do not believe that Admiral Ross will allow food to be wasted in such a manner" he said.

"_Voyager_ still has some fruit and vegetables that were made uneatable by exposure to space. We put Commander Riker in the stocks, I throw the stuff at him and that is the end of matter" Naomi said. Both the other officers had the thought Naomi was planning something else, but she would have mentioned it if it was important.

"And there would be no placing Commander Riker into either a brig or the stockade?" asked the JAG.

"Nope" Naomi smiled sweetly.

"I shall pass this on to the Commander as soon as possible" Picard promised. They talked for a little while longer before they left to get ready for the announcement of the verdict.

#

"Commander Riker, you will stand please" said the JAG. Riker and his appointed defender rose to their feet. "Commander Riker, this court finds you guilty of all charges. However, Captain Wildman has accepted an attempted plea from your commanding officer, Captain Picard. You are hereby sentenced to be placed in the stocks and have rotten fruit and vegetables thrown at you for half an hour. You are also not allowed to eat deserts of any kind for one year starting today – baring such instances where it would offend negoatiations with new member worlds or at a reception of alliances" the judge looked at Riker directly. "Do you wish to challenge this ruling or punishment?" he asked.

"No, Sir" Riker said. "I do not" and the JAG ended the trial and had Riker escorted to the starbase's recreation facility where a stock had been created for the punishment. Riker was put in it and then had everything thrown at him. To be fair, Naomi reflected, he took the punishment well and he was let out with bits of tomatoes, bananas and leola root on his uniform.

"The punishment is complete" said Admiral Ross. He had been overseeing it as the most senior office on the station. Riker apologised to Naomi for what he had done, handed her a handwritten copy and started to walk away.

"Just one moment…" Naomi called out. Riker turned round to look back at her. "Mr Riker, your uniform is a disgrace. I have never seen such a mess in all my life on a Starfleet uniform. I am placing you on report and shall be contacting your CO about your appearance. Dismissed" and Naomi executed a perfect turn on her heel and walked to her quarters with her father alongside her holding hands.

#

The group got up early the next morning, ate a good breakfast and picked up a few PADDs before going to see Admiral Ross. Most of the senior officers from the ships around the station were in attendance for the ceremony, and Naomi squeezed her father's hand for some support.

"When we award medals it is for a good reason" Ross began. "They are for courage, duty, honour… Today it is both a duty and a privilege to award these medals to these children. After the death of the crew of the _USS Voyager_, these five grew up pretty quickly and made the decision to complete the ship's journey home. Along the way they faced multiple battles with both the Borg and the Norcadians, and they have acquitted themselves with distinction. Towards the end of the trip, _Voyager_ was badly crippled and had almost a complete systems failure and yet they still engaged and destroyed a Jem'Hadar Battleship – something not easily done with a fully operational vessel. Even after taking damage from that, they managed to guide their crippled starship back to friendly lines where they finally got assistance and the help they needed" Ross took a number of medals and placed them on the tunics each of the group wore. "I hereby award you're the Christopher Pike Medal, the Legion of Honour, the Star Cross, Starfleet Decoration for Gallantry, Starfleet Medal of Honour, Starfleet Medal of Valour and many more…". Naomi wondered if she should have an SiF field installed on the tunic just to keep it together. After most had left the conference room, Admiral Ross sat down with Naomi and discussed what was going to happen. Because of popular opinion, it had been decided to turn _Voyager_ into a museum and docked at Utopia Planetia. Because the amount of damage _Voyager_ had, the ship would be taken back to Utopia Planetia and refitted to full operational status so she could undertake cruises of a few hours around the solar system and beyond. The ship would be flown back with a skeleton staff aboard, and in convoy with several hospital ships transporting wounded people back to Earth for treatment.

"Who will be in command?" asked Naomi.

"For practical reasons, Commander Willis will be in overall command, though you will be in nominal command of the fleet" Ross said. "From the reports I have received from the work crews of both the _Enterprise_ and the starbase's own staff, you should be able to just about make warp 4 – warp 4.3 if you are lucky" and Naomi nodded as she took all this information in.

"I assume these ships are armed, Admiral" she said at last. "I happen to know that _Voyager_ has no weapons at all, nor does she have any shields to speak of" and the man nodded.

"We have been able to rig up some deflectors for travel, and they will come back on the medical vessels. Because of the heavy damage aboard the ship, _Voyager_ will only have 20 crew members plus yourself, your father and your friends. Most of these will be assigned to working Engineering for the passage, but the others are rated for bridge duty. I am sorry I could not get you more people, but the war is going badly and these people were tour expired anyway and supposed to be going on 30 Days Leave anyway" but Naomi showed the maturity beyond her years as she waved off the concerns.

"I am sure that we can manage, Sir" she told Ross. "We managed alright back in the Delta Quadrant, and I am sure that we can wing it all the way to Earth, Admiral" and once more Admiral Ross was amazed at the maturity beyond her supposed years and her detailed knowledge of the workings of a Starship.

"Very well, Captain" he said, and he handed her a hardcopy print out. "These are your formal orders to 'escort' a medical convoy to Earth. You are not to engage the enemy under any circumstances" he added.

"What if they decide to engage _us_?" Naomi looked up from the orders.

"Open a visual channel and pull faces at them whilst yelling at the top of your voice" Ross smiled. "Good luck, Captain" and he shook Naomi's hand before the young girl left his office to prepare to leave the Starbase.

#

"Naomi Wildman to _Voyager_" Naomi tapped her com badge.

"Voyager_ here_"

"Six to beam aboard" and the quarters on the station dissolved into blue light and the group were transported to the waiting _Voyager_.

"Captain on the bridge" somebody called out, and everyone stood at attention at their stations on the bridge.

"As you were" Naomi said. "I assume we are l ready to leave?" she asked, and a Lieutenant Commander answered back.

"All crew are accounted for, Ma'am" she said. Naomi, her father and friends took the time to inspect the jury-rigged stations before seating themselves on the bridge.

"Engineering, this is the bridge"

"_Engineering here_" came the voice of a young sounding officer.

"We are about to get underway" said Naomi. "Have your department standing by for warp speed"

"_Aye, Aye_"

"All hands rig for departure. Departure stations" Naomi said, slipping into the role of Captain very easily once more. "Bring the internally metered pulse drive on, rig the Structural Integrity Field for transit, bring deflectors online and calibrate them for warp speed. Set course for Sector 001 at Warp 3.45. Ops, contact Starbase 375 and inform them we are leaving" and the officer at Ops confirmed the message was sent – the reply being '_Have a really ugly face ready, Ross_' which drew smiles from the little family.

"Captain, the medical vessels _Nightingale, Christine Chapel_ and _Mokoto_ report they are ready to leave. Commander Willis is ready when you are" and Naomi gave the order for _Voyager_ to head away from the station. The ship swung painfully round to port like a drunken fighter, and headed towards the _Olympic_ class medical vessels. As it passed the rows of ships, each lit up their running and spotlights in salute. The battered ship returned the gesture before assuming formation with the medical ships and jumping to warp.

#

The Jem'Hadar vessels sat in waiting with all but life support and passive sensors powered down. They had information that a convoy was due to pass by in the next few days, and destroying the ships would cause a large dint in the forces.

#

"I was thinking of making one of your favourite meals" Greskrendtregk said to Naomi.

"Spaghetti Bolognaise?" Mezoti spoke before Naomi had a chance. The others laughed at how well they had fitted together, and thus able to guess correctly what they would say, do or eat.

"Indeed" said Naomi's father. "How did you guess?" he asked.

"Naomi has only ever eaten that on Tuesdays" Icheb said.

"I am sure that the repli…" Naomi's father was cut off by the ship shuddering violently.

"Is everyone alright?" asked Naomi. When she got positives from everybody, she tapped her combadge. "Naomi to the bridge. What is going on?"

"_We have come under attack from a Jem'Hadar Battleship with several Attack Fighters covering it_"

"Red Alert! Increase speed to Warp 4. I'm on my way to the bridge" and Naomi raced out the door to the turbolift to carry her one deck up. The Bridge was only manned by terrified Ensigns, and the former drones assumed the unused Ops, Tactical and Engineering stations. Naomi sat at science whilst Greskrendtregk gripped the auxiliary tactical console behind the command chairs.

"Fighters are coming in for another pass on the medical ships" said one of the Ensigns.

"They do not have adequate shields to withstand such a sustained attack, and their weapon systems are also not enough" said Icheb.

"Bridge to Engineering. Do we have any power to the weapons at all?"

"_We can warm up the phaser banks, but we can't charge them. We can activate the torpedo launchers, but there is nothing to shoot with_" said a voice.

"Just get a little bit of power through them so it looks as if we are armed" Naomi said. "Helm, be ready to come out of warp and start combat manourvres. Tactical, get a weapon lock on those ships. We know we can't shoot, but they will assume we can. Get me Commander Willis"

"On screen2 said Mezoti.

"Captain Wildman, we can not take much more of this" he said.

"I know" Naomi replied. "Push your engines to the limits. We're going to buy you some time to escape" and Willis's eyes shot wide open.

"But you will be destroyed" he said.

"Perhaps" Naomi admitted, "But at least we will give you time to get as far away as possible, Wildman out" and the man's image vanished to be replaced with the approaching ships. "Broadcast a general distress call and a plea for help. Say that we under attack by enemy ships" but the officer at Ops shook his head.

"We're being jammed on everything but short range" and Naomi sighed.

"Bring the ship about, target the Battleship and make a pass as close as you dare. Icheb, re-route all available power to the forward and ventral shields" Naomi issued the orders like a seasoned commander. She used the working sensors to take semi-decent scans of the Battleship and tried to look for a weak spot in the hull.

"Naomi, I have found a possible weak spot in the hull" Azan said, and he brought up the picture of the Battleship on the main screen. At the same time as that, _Voyager_ shuddered as the weapons of the Jem'Hadar came to bear. The bridge sparked and arcs of electricity shot fro one side to the other.

"Don't keep it to yourself" said the Ensign as she clutched to the helm.

"It is possible that we might be able to transport one of our anti-matter pods to the hull of the Battleship and detonate it. The resultant explosion should be enough to disable them at the very least if it does not destroy them" Azan explained.

"But that will blow us up as well" the Ensign said. "What good will that do us?" he asked.

"We could modify the main deflector to emit a series of highly charged polaron beams" Icheb said. "We would only get two or perhaps three shots before the deflector is burned out however" he added.

"I'll take those shots – get started" Naomi said. "Bridge to the Doctor"

"_Doctor here_" the reassuring voice of the EMH sounded over the shattered comm.

"I need you to get down to the Anti-Matter pods and disconnect one from the feeds. We're going to shove one overboard and blow these sons of bitches to hell" Naomi said. Greskrendtregk heard the words but said nothing at her choice of language.

"_Understood_. _EMH, out_"

"Deflectors down to almost nothing" reported the Lieutenant at Ops.

"Icheb…? I could really do with those shots right about now" Naomi called.

"I need another three minutes"

"In three minutes we might all be dead" Naomi's father noted.

"I shall endeavour to be quicker" replied the Brunali.

"Ensign, bring us about and put us on a direct course for the Battleship"

"_Engineering to Bridge_"

"This is the bridge" Mezoti took the call.

"_We can't take many more hits before we suffer a complete systems and hardware failure_" said the same officer who had greeted Naomi upon beaming over from Starbase 375.

"Is that bad?" asked Mezoti.

"_Very – we'd be dead_" noted the engineer. "_We've got word from the EMH that he has disconnected Pod 3_" she added.

"Understood" Naomi said, and tapped her console. "Beam the pod to this area now" and on the viewscreen a large object – the pod – appeared next to the hull of the Jem'Hadar vessel.

"I have modified the deflector" Icheb announced.

"Target the pod and fire" Naomi ordered. "Helm, gets us away from here" and _Voyager_ swung round with a painful and deep seated moan as Icheb fired the improvised weapon. The beam hit the pod and it exploded as predicted. The ship was shaken violently as it took the Battleship and several Fighters with it, and everyone was thrown from their positions all over the ship. All the working consoles flickered on and off as they overloaded, temporary repairs failed and the ship spun slowly on its end.

"Damage report!" Rebi shouted out.

"Impulse and warp are offline, deflectors are down, attitude control has failed, we have multiple hull breaches, sensors have failed and jammed in passive mode, life support is holding steady for the moment, main computer is offline, main power is offline… the list is endless" said the Lieutenant at Ops.

"Do we have anything that works?" Naomi asked, blood pouring from a wound in her head.

"Internal communications, and that is just about it" said the officer.

"_EMH to the bridge_" the Doctor's voice sounded scratchy and broken up because of the amount of damage.

"Go ahead"

"_Miss Wildman, some debris punctured one of our radiation sinks. We have a level one radiation leak. Engineering is heavily contaminated and radiation is moving forward_" the Doctor, Naomi assumed, must have been on his mobile emitter at the time of the final explosion.

"Give people injections" said Naomi.

"_You don't understand_" said the hologram. "G_iving people injections simply won't do. Every surface of the ship is contaminated. We've got to get everybody off the ship. I recommend that we abandon ship_" the Doctor added in a regretful tone. Everybody on the bridge was silent as they took in the implication of that comment.

"Understood, Doctor" Naomi said quietly. "Treat everybody with Anti-Radiation meds" and Naomi heard the Doctor confirm that request before she begged the computer to switch to a ship wide frequency. "All hands, this is the Captain. Abandon Ship, Abandon Ship! This is not a drill. See the EMH for Anti-Radiation hyposprays and then get to the lifepods. All hands, Abandon Ship!" and she closed the channel. She stood shakily as her father put a bandage around her head to stop the bleeding. "You've done well enough, now get to the escape pods" she said, and the two Starfleet crew nodded and left via the Jefferies tubes. With main power being offline, they could not use the turbolifts to drop down one deck.

"You are not to blame for this" Greskrendtregk said to Naomi as tears ran down her face.

"I know" the girl wept, "But it isn't fair at all… I feel as if I have failed Captain Janeway" and her father hugged the girl as he knew she needed to be hugged.

"We should activate the Auto-Destruct and leave" said Mezoti.

"I guess you're right" Naomi sniffed and wiped her eyes and nose. "Computer, this is Captain Naomi Wildman. Activate Auto Destruct, authorisation Flotter T Water III"

"Computer, this is Icheb, first officer. Confirming Auto Destruct, authorisation Uniform Victor Bravo Seven Six" Icheb spoke clearly, but everyone could tell he too was torn over the loss of the ship they had worked so hard to get back.

"_Oreto destrukt eeeese orfline_" the computer said.

"_Chemise Rouge to the bridge_"

"Bridge here"

"_Escape pod ejection systems are frozen. We can't get off the ship_"

"That might not be such of a problem" Icheb said, and he pointed the sensors. "We have incoming vessels closing fast" moments later, columns of red light appeared on the bridge, and a dozen Klingons stood with weapons drawn and looking for danger.

"What is going on?" asked the leader. He was dressed in the normal Klingon armour, but was also adorned with a cloak and several impressive looking medals.

"General Martok" Naomi said.

"Have we met child?" asked the Klingon.

"No, Sir. However this ships is filling with radiation, and we need to get off as quickly as possible" and Martok could understand well the danger of radiation killing an entire crew.

"Very well… The survivors may beam over to the _Rotarran_ for the time being" Martok snapped orders off to his crew – most of whom beamed back off. "I seem to know you, child" he said.

"My name is Naomi Wildman, General" said Naomi. "Me and my friends came back from the Delta Quadrant in the _Voyager_ – we were on our way home" and the Klingon nodded as he remembered.

"Ah… I remember now, little one. I heard the stories but I did not believe it until now" and he gave a short laugh. "You are most welcome aboard my ship" Martok added. The others came off quickly, and then Naomi, Greskrendtregk and Martok left the ship together – the last ones off the crippled and battered ship. The entire crew was treated for radiation sickness by the EMH – whom also treated the Klingons for a few problems here and there – and then were given quarters to sleep off the sedatives they needed. They had to share with about eight persons to each quarters, but it was better then being dead. Whilst they all slept, Martok alerted Starbase 177 to what had happened and had his crew run every scan they had other the ship for a complete assessment as to its capacity to move. The squadron he was commanding, made up of Birds of Preys, took up a defensive position around the shattered hulk of _Voyager_. None of the Klingons questioned the orders as they understood that this ship was one of the most honoured and distinguished in the Federation fleet. The fact that five children and a hologram had brought their ship back to Federation space was the stuff of Klingon legends and songs would be sung in Sto-Vo-Kor about their deeds. The Klingons would ensure that it would get back to Utopia Planetia shipyards even if they had to get out and push.

**A/N:**

**What…? You didn't think I was going to let them get away with it that easily did you? Well rest assured that this is **_**Voyager**_**'s final battle… one way or another, she will not fight again. Suffice to say, the battles have taken their toll on the old girl…**

**One more chapter left in this, and then that is, as they say – it! BUT I am going to make you wait for it as I'm hopping back to my Harry Potter/Worst Witch and BSG stories.**

**I hope you will all enjoy them**

**Regards**

**Robert**


	10. The Final Battles  The Final Homecoming

**The Final Battles / The Final Homecoming**

Naomi awoke in quarters that looked nothing like anything on a Federation starship. It took her a few moments to realise that she was aboard a Klingon Bird of Prey, and she got off the bed and stumbled to the passageway outside. Asking a passing engineer for directions, she made her way to the mess hall for something to eat. A group of Klingons sat at long tables and laughed when they saw Naomi's slightly rumpled state.

"Are you hungry, child?" asked an older one.

"Yeah" Naomi replied.

"Sit, and I shall get you something" replied the female Klingon, and put a plate of Gagh in front of Naomi. The took one look at it and scrunched her face at it – much to the amusment of the Klingons.

"Perhaps she can not stomach real food" joked another Klingon.

"Perhaps you can not either" retorted Naomi. "I like Gagh, but only when it is live – not as limp as a salad" and the laughing stopped as they realised that the girl had some knowledge of Klingon foods.

"We all have to make do with what we have" said the first Klingon.

"That shouldn't be right for the Empire's finest warriors" Naomi said. "I'll eat this though, but I want Blood Pie to go with it" and when her father found her, his daughter was eating Gagh, Blood Pie and gaining the respect of the Klingons. He knew there was still a lot of catching up to be done with her. As he sat down, she was discussing the merits of why 2309 was a finer vintage then any other year of bloodwine.

"You were not in the quarters when I awoke" Greskrendtregk said to Naomi.

"I know, but I was really hungry so I decided to get something to eat" she said in reply.

"Do not be harsh with the child, Sir" said the Klingon who had first spoken to Naomi, "We have been swapping stories of courageous battles, great deeds and discoveries that will help our all of our peoples" and coming from a Klingon, this was high praise indeed.

'_Naomi Wildman, please report to the bridge. Naomi Wildman, please report to the bridge_' said an unseen male voice. Naomi was glad that her Starfleet comm badge was compatible with Klingon intercom systems.

"Naomi Wildman, here. What is the situation?" she asked, sipping from her bloodwine. Martok himself answered her question.

'_Several Starfleet vessels have arrived with Engineering personnel and supplies. They are beaming over to make enough repairs to _Voyager_ so she is fit enough for a warp tow_" he said gruffly.

"Do you want me to come up to the bridge?" Naomi asked.

'_That would be of great help_' replied Martok. '_I shall await your arrival_' and with that, the General closed the channel.

"If you excuse me" Naomi said to the Klingons in the mess hall, "I must go. I forever answer the call to duty" and with her hand in her father's, she strode for the bridge of the _Rotarran_.

# # # # #

"Ah, child, behold the sight" Martok greeted Naomi with a wave of his hand towards the viewscreen. Several Starfleet support ships had arrived and were beaming over people to begin making repairs.

"I would like to thank you again, General Martok, for saving us when you did" Naomi said.

"I could not leave an ally when they could be set upon by those Dominion dogs…" replied the battle hardened Klingon. "I believe my communications officer will set you up with a link to the fleet" and Naomi thanked him and turned as the on-duty Tactical Officer suddenly shouted out.

"General! I am picking up a small mass heading our way. Impact in ten seco… the object has vanished from my sensors"

"Are you sure it was not a sensor malfunction?"

"Quite sure, General" replied the officer, "I calibrated them this morning when I came on shi… Object has reappeared on sensors. It is on a direct course for our starboard power coupling. The Starfleet vessels are trying to shoot it down, but it keeps appearing in and out of space. I believe it may have a cloaking device of some kind"

"Sound battle alert and raise shields" ordered Martok.

"Too late!" cried the officer.

"Brace for impact" Martok said, gripping his chair arms for extra support. Naomi and her father made a beeline for the science and environmental stations as the experimental missile hit the Bird of Prey on the starboard side. Nearly everyone was thrown from their places, and a piece of the ceiling broke off a beam and impaled Martok through the chest.

"Medical Emergency. Medical team to the bridge. General Martok has been badly injured" said the communication officer.

"Incoming Dominion fighters, at bearing 183 mark 224" called out the Tactical Officer. The sound of the air filters trying to clear the smoke from the bridge could be clearly heard as they tried to figure out who would command the vessel. The solution was decided upon by Naomi who stepped over Martok's form and slipped into the Captain's chair.

"Tactical, get me a lock and a precise number of enemy ships. Bridge to Engineering, Naomi Wildman here. General Martok is down, and I have assumed command of this vessel. Put all power to weapons and shields" Naomi snapped off the orders like she had done on _Voyager_.

"I have seven ships closing in on the same course as before" said the tactical officer.

"Very well. Comm – send to the Federation ships 'Have assumed command of this vessel. Intend to attack. Wildman'. Tactical – put all available power from whatever we can spare it from, and place it into the forward shields. Target the lead ship and prepare to fire. Helm, new course – 183 mark 224" Naomi's orders were obeyed, and the little vessel swung around and charged towards the oncoming Jem'Hadar fighters. The ship ploughed straight into the mass of ships and fired everything at the lead ship. The explosion sent chunks of debris throughout the others, and several of them received direct hits to their nacelles, gain hull breaches or otherwise had severely lowered shields.

"The Starfleet ships are forming a defensive posture around _Voyager_" said the Tactical Officer.

"Very good" Naomi said. She looked at the readouts, being more or less fluent in advanced Klingon, and started coming up with an idea. "Are any ships undamaged?" she asked.

"The vessel on the port flank has sustained little damage. Its shields are a little weakened, but otherwise it is fully operable" the science officer said.

"Execute pattern Kirk Epsilon" Naomi said as a bunch of Jem'Hadar headed towards them.

"Captain?" the helm officer was confused.

"All engines full ahead. Hard to port" Naomi said, remembering she was not on a Starfleet ship at the moment.

"Understood" said helm.

"Can we rig the deflector to send out an EM pulse?" asked Naomi.

"You wish to disable the vessel?" asked the science officer.

"I was thinking that we might gain a lot of valuable information from an intact ship" Naomi pointed out.

"It will take me three minutes to rig the deflector" said the science officer, and without another word she turned back to her console and began work. The ship continued to shudder as it came under repeated attack.

"May I suggest something?" asked Greskrendtregk.

"Sure, dad" said Naomi, gripping the arms of Martok's seat as the _Rotarran_ was hit by several torpedoes at once.

"Have the Starfleet vessels attack the Jem'Hadar vessels. The attacks will allow us to get the work done much quicker and without too much of a distraction" and the communications officer did as he was ordered to do by Naomi. The Starfleet vessels got pounded like small children by bigger kids, but they gave out a number of good shots in return.

"I have managed to get the deflector calibrated to emit an EM pulse of sufficient strength to disable the enemy vessel. However we will need to be within 50 Kellicams for it to be effective" finished the science officer.

"All power to the forward shields. Take it all from life support and weapons if you have to" Naomi ordered.

"Power diverted" said the engineer's mate.

"Helm, new course! 123 by 339 mark 1 – full impulse" Naomi said. This put the Klingon vessel on a collision course for their target. The other ship didn't flinch as they thought it their duty to the Founders to ram the Klingon vessel. The Bird of Prey flew onwards, and the forward shields got a battering.

"Shields weakening" reported the tactical officer.

"Understood" Naomi said, and then noticed that they appeared to be drifting off course at the same time they got hit in the stern.

"Helm going unresponsive" reported the helm officer.

"Can you compensate?"

"Yes, Captain, I can"

"Steady as she goes then" Naomi said. The science station trilled an alarm several times before it was cut off in mid beep.

"We are within range" the officer reported. When Naomi didn't give the order to fire, she turned round and repeated the notice.

"I heard the first time, science officer" Naomi said. "I want to get well within range to be certain of a good shot" and she looked over to helm. "Helm, maintain course and speed"

"But we'll be killed when we can shoot" said helm.

"You have your orders" Naomi told him. The officer swallowed deeply and complied with the order.

"40 Kellicams…" said tactical. "35 Kellicams…"

"Stand by to fire" Naomi said, and cued the communications officer to put her over the ship. "All hands, this is Captain Wildman. Brace for impact. I repeat: brace for impact" and all over the ship, everyone rushed to grab something very solid.

"30 Kellicams" the tactical officer said.

"Maintain course and speed" Naomi reported her earlier order. "Stand by to fire directly at her bow" she added.

"Deflector ready" said science.

"Shields are now inoperative"

"25 Kellicams"

"Fire!" Naomi shouted, and the _Rotarran_'s deflector activated and hit the JemHadar vessel right on the front. The crackling of blue energy quickly spread all over the rest of the hull, and the Fighter started to tumble over and over as it lost power.

"They have lost all main and secondary power" reported the science officer as she scanned the ship. "They have life support, but that is on their batteries only" she added.

"The other ships have turned and run off. The Starfleet ships are asking for permission to pursue" communications said.

"Negative" Naomi said. "We need them to help _Voyager_ as quickly as possible. Stand down from combat stations, put a tractor beam on the disabled vessel and tow it back to the task force" and a different shade of blue hit the Jem'Hadar ship, and the Bird of Prey started to drag it back to the waiting Starfleet vessels.

"The task force is resuming transporting of all engineering teams to the _Voyager_" said the science officer.

"Very well" Naomi said, and spun in her chair and looked at the engineer's mate. "Damage report"

"We have lost our port impulse engine, one of our shield emitters was knocked out during the attack and we have a few minor hull breaches" he said as he consulted his panel's readouts.

"Very well. Continue back to the task force, keep scanning the surrounding space, and keep an eye on the wounded bird. I don't want them activating the Self-Destruct on us somehow" Naomi said.

"Aye, Captain" replied the bridge crew.

"Tactical officer, I am leaving to go below. You have the bridge until otherwise" and then Naomi and her father left a bridge of astonished Klingon warriors.

# # # # #

"Is he going to be alright?" asked Naomi.

"The General sustained nothing more then a few broken ribs, some swelling to the brain and the associated tissue and nerve damage. The beam missed every single organ of his, and that is why he is in such a good shape" said the Doctor. He had assisted the _Rotarran_'s normal medical detachment when the injuries started coming in – assisted by the former Borg Drones. "He should be awake in a few hou…" the Doctor began speaking. He was cut off by the sound of Martok stirring from the bed behind the hologram.

"What… happened?" he asked shakily, getting his sense back on an even keel.

"Some Jem'Hadar ships came in with power cut" Naomi said. "By the time we raised shields and charged weapons, some of the crew were rendered unable to serve. Because you had been knocked out, I assumed command and engaged the enemy. I wish to note for the record that I was impressed by the way your crew took orders from me. I am also impressed by the devotion to duty they displayed – your bridge crew in particular" and as Naomi told her tale, Martok was impressed even more by the abilities of the girl. She had assumed the command of a vessel that was not totally familiar to her, she had engaged the enemy, gained one confirmed kill with another probable and engaged a third ship and disabled for study by scientists. The wise Klingon knew that a great future awaited both herself and her friends should they join Starfleet.

# # # # #

Because of the attack, Starfleet had diverted an entire fleet to patrolling the sectors around _Voyager_'s location. It took another week to get her most basic systems in the basic levels for sustaining life. All the radiation had been cleared from the ship, and so Naomi, her father, her friends, the Doctor and the ferry crew had returned to the ship to aid in the temporary repairs. Because her warp drive was now completely inoperative, they sent for a tug to tow them back to Sector 001. What arrived was a prototype sort of tug which could extend a warp field over _Voyager_ so it wouldn't take the many months to get back at full impulse. Once everything was ready for the trip to Utopia Planetia, Naomi said goodbye to the fleet and the Klingons – they in particular had gained a deep respect for the group.

"I'm looking forward to standing on Earth and eating food that was actually grown on Alpha Quadrant soil" Mezoti said.

"Instead of Neelix's stews" commented Icheb from his place at the mess hall.

"I miss his cooking actually…" commented Naomi.

"We all do" said Azan.

"Although his Leola Root Ice Cream left something to be desired" added Rebi with a smile. The rest of the three week trip was spent making repairs to the operations of the ship. Life support was patched enough to last until they reached dock, and they had secured enough power to ensure for the memory core. Naomi wanted all of the crew's logs, letters and other records to be kept safe for the families of the crew members killed. Apart from that, all they had managed to do was keep the lights on and get the replicators online – though they did fail every 12 hours.

'Norland_ to Voyager_' Naomi's comm badge chirped.

"Go ahead" Naomi said.

'_We've picked up a distress call_' said the Norland's captain. '_The ship is under attack by the Dominion and needs assistance. There are no other ships within range_' and Naomi was struck by the terrible situation she was in. She had two ships – though one of them was next to useless, but she also had a duty to rescue those in trouble.

"Alter course to intercept that call" she ordered the _Norland_'s captain.

'W_e have no weapons_' replied the _Norland_'s captain. '_We should keep away and attempt to alert a Starfleet vessel. They might get there in time to save some people_' she added.

"I am telling you to divert to the location of the distress call, Commander" Naomi said.

'_I refuse to take orders from a child who was jumped up through the ranks because of the deaths of her mother, ship's crew and captain. I don't care what you say, I am not taking my ship into danger_' said the _Norland_'s captain. The officers on _Voyager_ hissed in anger from the statement. Although Naomi was still a little girl, she had proven herself to be a capable ship's captain, an honourable officer and had the respect of several senior officers. More then that, she had battled the Borg on several occasions, fought off major engagements by the Quagaars and the Norcadians and brought her ship back to the Alpha Quadrant. What was more, even though she had little more then parts flying in formation, she battled the Dominion with a crippled vessel twice and assumed the command of the _Rotarran_ during the most recent battle – gaining the respect of all on board. Although the officers still knew very little of Naomi, they would defend her captaincy until ordered otherwise. Naomi though had decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Who is the next senior officer present?" she asked.

'_Lieutenant Commander Margerital_' said a deep male voice.

"Listen closely, Margerital" Naomi said. "I hereby relieve your captain of duty. Do you understand?"

'_Aye, Ma'am_'

"Confine her to quarters with a guard on her door. She is to be charged with failure to respond to a vessel in distress, and cowardness in the face of the enemy" and they could all hear the protesting officer being removed from the bridge.

'_What are your orders?_' asked Margerital.

"Change our course so that we will intercept that distress call. Put out a message to all Starfleet ships in the area to respond. Use Code 1" Naomi said.

'_Aye, Ma'am_'

"Do you have any kind of weapons?" Icheb asked.

'_Navigational phasers and some low yield torpedoes for demolition work and to blast apart asteroids for mining work_' Margerital said.

"Work on dialling up the yield" Naomi said. "If you can, then take some Anti Matter from your storage pods. That should give you a little boost. Dispatch a message to the ship under attack and tell her we are coming to their aid. Wildman out" and she looked around at those around her.

"Captain" said an Ensign, "We are in no position to fight. What do you propose to do?" he asked.

"While we have nothing that could do even the most microscopic damage, we do have the _Delta Flyer_ though. We'll go ahead and cause trouble until we can get some more help. _Voyager_ would never survive another fight at all" Naomi said.

## ## ## ## ##

"Three minutes until intercept" Icheb said.

"Naomi" Mezoti called from the tactical station on the _Delta Flyer_. "Sensor contact. Port quarter, close aboard. Dominion – Jem'Hadar Battleship class. Course 310"

"Is it turning to follow us?"

"No. It is continuing on its original course" Mezoti replied.

"Track steady on it" Naomi said. "We might be lucky and it decided to leave the ship, and us, alone and get behind its own lines" and they watched as the ship left sensor range at high warp.

"I am picking up the ship on sensors" said Greskrendtregk. He had been pulled aboard by Naomi on the flimsy excuse it was a father/daughter outing.

"What is the damage?" Naomi asked.

"Total. The ship is a complete loss. I doubt that anybody survived the attack. It _was_ a passenger transport craft with a total compliment of about 500 people. I am reading multiple hull breaches, atmosphere venting, radiation from the damaged warp core, and it looks like her back was bro…" Naomi's father stopped speaking as something changed on his panel. "I believe my last statement was in error" he said with a faint smile.

"A survivor?" asked Icheb with some surprise in his voice.

"One Bajoran lifesign is detected. It is in an escape pod, however it can not launch because ejection systems are destroyed" Greskrendtregk replied.

"We are within transporter range" Mezoti said.

"Beam the survivor to the aft section" Naomi said. "Icheb, see if you can pull the ship's computer together enough for a data transfer to our memory banks. Once they are close enough, start relaying the information to the _Norland_ and _Voyager_ for safekeeping. Mezoti, you're with me" and with that she headed towards the back with Mezoti.

"Is she always like this?" Greskrendtregk asked Icheb.

"Oh yes" replied the Brunali, "And I wouldn't have it any other way" he added with a warm grin on his face.

"We need you in here, dad!" shouted Naomi from the Aft section.

#

The lone survivor turned out to be a little Bajoran girl by the name of Saghi. She had been travelling on the transport ship to Earth when her ship had come under attack from the Dominion. They had boarded the ship and started killing the passengers. They were about to kill her too when she had suddenly remembered something, and had shouted loudly that she was Bajoran and that the Dominion had a Non-Aggression pact with her people. They had spared her life, and put her in an escape pod to await rescue by a ship. She had some cut, bruises and a broken ankle as well as a small amount of radiation absorption. They treated her as best they could, but sent her directly to _Voyager_'s sickbay for a complete assessment and treatment by the Doctor. The Hologram was happy to be in his own sickbay once more, and he went around humming a Bajoran lullaby in order to soothe the terrified girl's nerves. A message to Starfleet was sent out, and a hospital ship was dispatched to recover the bodies for transportation to the dead's respective home worlds. Saghi would continue onwards as a passenger on _Voyager_'s trip to Utopia Planetia where she would then be taken to Earth and the Bajoran Embassy located there. It took them a matter of a day and a half to travel from the wrecked ship to the outer reaches of the Solar System, and the combined pair of the _Norland_ and _Voyager_ dropped out just before the Oort Cloud. Whilst on the trip home, the ferry crew had been working to do something special. Taking parts from the spares on the tug, they had patched the impulse drive enough for three quarters. They had managed to restore helm control to the bridge as well, and it was a teary eyed group of friends who took the bridge for the final time on the long way back. After the time they had spent fighting, hiding and travelling, the last four hours seemed to stretch for an age.

"Mr Icheb" Naomi was getting her own back for him calling her Captain the other day outside a formal situation. "Set course for Utopia Planetia – best possible speed" she ordered.

"Aye, Ma'am" Icheb replied, wearing his best tunic for the occasion. All of the friends had word their best tunics for the occasion of _Voyager_'s return home.

"I am detecting a number of ships approaching" Mezoti said.

"Please tell me it isn't the Dominion…" groaned Naomi.

"I am quite certain they are not" Azan said from Ops.

"On screen" Naomi said. She was curious to see what ships were heading towards them. She assumed it was a convoy to one of the battlefronts. The viewscreen flickered into life and Naomi's jaw dropped. Hundreds of ships were approaching _Voyager_, from shuttles to pleasure yachts, passenger liners and freighters. Powerful _Akira_ class vessels, enormous _Galaxy_ class ships, dependable _Excelsior_ class ships, reliable old _Miranda_ class starships. They had all come out to escort _Voyager_ back the final little distance. As they looked at the fleet, Naomi was certain that she could see the _Enterprise-A_ and the _Excelsior_ picking their way through carefully. They dodged round a couple of _Nebula_s, _Norway_s and _Saber_s and flanked _Voyager_. Azan, Rebi and several of the Starfleet people were busy fielding calls from all of the ships, and Naomi was glad that she could cheat a little and use a recording of her voice to make it appear she was answering everyone. Her father, who was sat at his late wife's station, reported that their arrival was on all the subspace news channels. They watched themselves for a while before Naomi flicked it off because she wanted to do this the proper way.

"I have Utopia Planetia hailing us" said Mezoti.

"On screen" Naomi said, and a recognisable Admiral appeared on the viewscreen.

'_Miss Wildman. On behalf of the whole of Starfleet, I wish to congratulate you and your friends for completing the mission that Captain Janeway set herself years ago. Your dedication is an inspiration to everyone in Starfleet_'

"Thank you Admiral" Naomi said. "We have three quarters impulse restored, and we're coming in under our own power. As you know, we encountered a number of Dominion ships on our way back, so we have more damage then you were expecting in the first place"

'_That is quite alright_' said Admiral Paris. '_We have a dock ready for you here. I would consider it an honour to sign your Bell Book personally when you arrive here. Paris out_' and the Admiral blipped off the screen.

"Receiving a hail from the _Enterprise-A_" said Greskrendtregk. Because of the many calls sent to the ship, he had taken over the task of local fleet communications. Before being told to do so, he put the hail on the screen – revealing the face of the President of the United Federation of Planets.

'_Miss Wildman, I am so pleased to speak to you at last_' he said. '_When I heard Starfleet was sending out an honour guard to escort you back in, I cancelled all of my appointments and jumped on the first ship I could. With your permission, I should like to finish the journey aboard _Voyager' and Naomi nodded with a pleased expression on her face.

"I'll go down to the Transporter room and meet you" she began.

'_I wouldn't want to make you leave the bridge of your ship_' said the President. '_If it is alright with you, I will transport over to your bridge_' and Naomi said it would be alright, and the President vanished from the bridge of James Kirk's old ship, and reappeared several feet from Naomi.

"Attention on deck. President, United Federation of Planets, arriving" Icheb said, and everyone on the bridge snapped to attention as the computer toned a bell twice.

"As you were" the President released them.

"Welcome aboard, Mr President" said Naomi, and she shook his hand.

"I am glad to be on this ship" said the man. "I remember seeing this under construction as I came to Earth for my inauguration. When you came back to the Alpha Quadrant, I read with rabid fascination all the logs you and your friends had made, the logs of the crew, the details of the battles you have fought in… This ship will become a legend in its own right" and Naomi led the President around the bridge and introduced him to each of her friends and to her father.

"Estimate three hours until Utopia Planetia" called the Ensign at helm, and Naomi was about to order everything to get going when she had a sudden thought.

"I would consider it an honour if you took the helm, Mr President" she said. The girl knew already how much of an honour _Voyager_ was getting. For the last three hours of its current active service life, it would carry the title of Federation Flagship.

#

Naomi had the visual footage piped through out the ship so the rest of the ferry crew could see it. Every porthole at the massive shipyard and on all the ships docked there was filled with people watching _Voyager_ return to its place of birth. Naomi had relieved the Ensign at the Helm and was guiding in her ship by herself.

"Yard Master reports we are cleared for Drydock 4" said Azan.

"Understood" acknowledged Naomi, and fired a gentle burst of thrusters to swing _Voyager_ round. Instead of docking straight away, the girl decided to be cheeky, and she took the ship on a Victory Lap of the entire facility with every exterior light switched on. But all things come to an end, and she touched the starboard thrusters one more time and swung the ship round to face the dock.

"All stations: prepare for docking" Icheb called out. "All decks and all stations report ready for docking" he told Naomi as he got a series of green lights. With a tap of the impulse engines, the battered but victorious ship sailed towards the lattice structure.

"Standby to attach umbilicals" Rebi said.

"Port docking tubes are standing by" Mezoti put in.

"And three… two… one… shut down" Naomi brought the ship to a complete halt. "Connect umbilicals, disengage and make safe the impulse engines, secure all stations" and put herself on the channel she knew everyone was listening on. "Attention all hands, this is the Captain. We have just completed our docking with Utopia, and we are now on their power supplies. Crew disembarkation will begin as soon as possible. Please make safe all of your stations, and stand by to transfer all data upon orders from the bridge. Wildman out" and she slumped in her seat as it turned to face the rest of the bridge occupants. For the first time, she let all of the tiredness she had felt for over two years wash over her. She had completed Captain Janeway's mission of getting the ship back home.

"Party approaching Midships Port docking tunnel" Azan said.

"I think we should all go down and meet Admiral Paris" Naomi said, and roused herself from the helm and straightened her tunic. "Naomi Wildman to the Doctor" she called, tapping her comm badge.

'_Doctor here_' came the voice of the hologram.

"Admiral Paris is coming aboard. I wanted everyone ready to meet him" Naomi explained.

'_I am on my way_' said the Doctor.

"Lieutenant Pigeon, prepare to make a dump of all information to the shipyard's mainframe – except the crew data, logs, and everything else stored in the secondary core. You have the bridge" and with that she stepped into the crowded turbolift and headed down to meet the late Tom Paris's father.

# # # # #

"Request permission to come aboard, Captain?" asked Admiral Paris at the airlock.

"Permission granted, Admiral. Welcome aboard, Sir" Naomi shook hands very maturely with the senior officer. "May I present my friends and faithful crew? This is Icheb, a Brunali. You may be aware he is applying for Starfleet Academy for this year. The twins are named Azan and Rebi, and they are Wysanti. This is Mezoti, a Norcadian. Her people were responsible for killing the crew because they thought we had kidnapped Mezoti. This is the EMH Mark I – the only remaining one to do what it was originally supposed to do" and Admiral Paris felt a chill go through him at the look she gave him when she said that. "You'll find he does a lot more then treat injuries. I have treated him with nothing but the utmost courtesy as if he was a living being. The Bajoran girl here is Saghi. We rescued her from a ship the Dominion attacked. She only survived because she told the boarding Jem'Hadar that she was Bajoran, and therefore was part of the Non Aggression treaty with the Dominion" she pointed out each of her friends in turn plus Saghi.

"I am sure that your mother is proud of you – wherever she may be right now" Paris said.

"I hope so too, Admiral" Naomi said. "Would you care to take a tour of _Voyager_? Before the repair crews start on her" and Paris nodded in agreement.

"I think I would like that very much" he said, and followed the collection of children, one adult and one hologram all over the ship. The President disembarked and returned to Earth on a shuttle.

# # # # #

"Admiral on deck" said Pigeon as the turbolift doors opened. He and the three Ensigns stood ramrod straight as the group entered from the turbolift.

"As you were" Paris said. "Carry on" and they returned to their work. After a tour of the various bridge stations, Paris, Naomi and her father adjourned to the ready room to speak while the rest of the group got ready to disembark. The Doctor took Saghi to the airlock where a representative of the Bajoran Government was waiting to take custody of her until arrangements could be made for her return to Bajor.

"Admiral Paris" began Greskrendtregk, "Knowing the hard work that my daughter has put into getting this ship home, I was wondering what she would be getting. You must admit that these are exceptional circumstances, and she and her friends should get something other then medals" and Paris nodded his head.

"I am certain things can be arranged" he said.

"I only have a few things that I'd really like" Naomi said. "I want the Doctor recognised as being fully sentient. You did it to Commander Data, and he is an artificial creation like the Doctor. Icheb has his heart set on entering Starfleet Academy. I want you to make sure that there is no possible way he could fail the entry test. As for Mezoti, Azan and Rebi, I don't want them splitting up. I want adoption papers made up so we are all one great big family. As for myself, well… I want nothing more then to spend as much time as possible with my daddy" and she burst into tears at this point and fell into her father's waiting arms. All the stress and strain of over two years of looking out for her friends finally got to her and she cried and cried until she fell asleep.

"That girl is going to need a lot of counselling" Paris said.

"I know" said Greskrendtregk. "However from what her friends tell me, she still misses her mother somewhat badly" and the two talked until Greskrendtregk woke his daughter up. "Naomi, we must be going now. We can all take a shuttlecraft back to the house I have on Earth. I have a large amount of land in the back, and you can run about all day if you so wish" and he dried her tears before the three of them walked back on to the bridge. The Doctor was there as well, and was taking pictures for his holographic picture collection.

"We were waiting for you to come out" said Mezoti, rushing to her best friend and putting an arm around her in support. "We wanted to have a group picture of all of us on the bridge. One of us all at our stations, and one of the group in front of the viewscreen" and the pictures were taken, but then it came to one of the few remaining things Naomi had to do as the commanding officer of the _USS Voyager_.

"Computer, begin transfer of all remaining data from our memory banks to the shipyard mainframe. Authorisation Mihail Dmitrij Zhenja Boris You Vee Bee 7 6" she ordered it. "Attention all hands: you may disembark at this time. Thank you for your help in getting this ship back home. Wildman out" and she closed the channel and got a round of applause from her friends, father, Admiral Paris and the remaining bridge crew. Pigeon and the Ensign at helm had wanted to remain on duty until the last, so they had brought their duffels to the bridge. The bridge emptied of everybody but Naomi, her father, friends and Admiral Paris.

"I don't want to leave the ship…" Mezoti said.

"You want me to undock and get out of here?" asked Icheb.

"I think that wouldn't really work" Naomi said with a small smile. "Computer: how many people are onboard?" she asked.

'_Eight, located on the Bridge_' reported the computer.

"We should be going now" said Greskrendtregk. Naomi nodded and she watched as everyone else boarded the turbolift before it whisked them down to the port airlock. Naomi, being the Captain, took a turbolift of her own and did so after one last look at her mother's old station. The turbolift took her speedily to the nearest exit near the airlock, and Naomi walked the corridors alone – feeling the sadness of the occasion.

"We're all ready for you" Admiral Paris said, and the man led the way of the ship and onto the station itself. The last person off the ship was Naomi, and as she passed through the airlock, she glanced around the deserted corridors.

"Thanks" she whispered to the ship. Although battered, broken and leaking vital air, it had fulfilled its duty in getting its crew home – much as Naomi had got her ship home. The girl understood what Janeway had once told her of a ship and its Captain being one half of a relationship.

"Captain, _USS Voyager_, arriving!" somebody called out, and the drydock's computer toned a bell as Naomi stepped aboard. She saw that her friends and the ferry crew had lined up to one side of the cavernous airlock.

"All crew have disembarked, Admiral" she reported to Paris formally. Naomi was enjoying this little part greatly – pretending that she was Captain Janeway.

"Understood" Paris said. "You may dismiss your crew" he told the girl, and was impressed when she executed a perfect heel turn.

"Crew, Dismiss" and there was a great amount of cheering and applauding which lasted for what seemed like hours.

# # # # #

The Drydock used its cargo transporter to beam the _Delta_ _Flyer_ from the shuttlebay on _Voyager_ to a small airlock on the upper part of the command section. After taking a long deserved three day rest in some quarters given to them, the group boarded the shuttle and started the last part of the trip back to Earth. They cruised along at half impulse, exchanging words with passing ships as they congratulated the group for getting back safely. They landed in a large field behind a house that looked straight out of a Huckleberry Finn novel.

"This is your home" said Greskrendtregk to his daughter the moment they stepped out of the ship.

"This is so cool" Naomi beamed, using a favourite expression of Tom Paris's.

"May I ask where we are going to live?" asked Mezoti.

"I believe my wife adopted you, so you can stay with Naomi and myself. As for the boys, the twins are more then welcome to stay here too. I have more then enough space, and the place has been a little empty these last number of years. Icheb though will not be able to stay for very long" Greskrendtregk said.

"Why not?" asked Naomi with alarm.

"Because I have it on very good authority that he will be accepted into Starfleet Academy" replied her father, and Icheb's jaw dropped in a very un-Icheb like manner.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"I was talking to Admiral Paris after Naomi had cried herself to sleep. He has said that even if you fail the entry tests, they would still admit you to the Academy" Naomi father busied himself for a few moments with the environmental settings. "I believe there is a lot you could ask for, and they would be happy to get you it" he added.

"Do you think they could give us our rooms from the ship?" asked Rebi.

"That is a little unusual, but I would think they would do that, little one" said Greskrendtregk chuckling.

"I must say this is a nice house" said the Doctor. "It must have cost a lot of credits" he added.

"Samantha would often say it was worth it" Greskrendtregk said, looked absent for a moment and then came back to reality. It was clear he was thinking of his late wife. He had spent a lot of time on Starbase 375 reading his wife's written logs, listening to them, watching the visually recorded ones and going over the weekly letters she had written about her life, duties and Naomi growing up. He had been amazed that in the entire time she had been alive in the Delta Quadrant she had never been unfaithful. If she had of been though, he would not have been judgmental of her. He knew of a human's need for companionship and intimacy on occasions. In fact she had been the most faithful of all the crew on the ship, with the only exception being the EMH. This was of course down to the fact Emergency Medical Holograms did not come equipped with a penis as standard.

"Why don't you go find somewhere to rest?" suggested the Doctor.

"I will prepare a home cooked meal for you to enjoy" Greskrendtregk said, and watched as they went to explore the upper floors of the house.

# # # # #

Naomi looked up at the stars in the sky, and for a moment wondered why they looked different to the ones she knew well. It still took her a few minutes to realise she was in the Alpha Quadrant now.

"Is something the matter?" asked Mezoti, putting an arm around her best friend.

"I was thinking about our journey here" Naomi replied, doing the same to Mezoti.

"Oh?" asked the girl. "Anything in particular?" she questioned.

"I was thinking about how well we were able to take care of _Voyager_ – given the fact we were not a bunch of trained Starfleet officers" Naomi said.

"We didn't do too badly did we?" remarked Mezoti, looking up and locating Mars in the night sky. In her imagination, she thought she could see the battle damaged hull of _Voyager_. The entire Federation had been surprised by the amount of information brought back by the group, and Starfleet was going over every piece of Borg technology which would help defend against another invasion. In the meantime, they had gone over the Borg torpedoes with the assistance of the former drones and started producing their own torpedoes for use on _Defiant_ class vessels. It was estimated that those alone were turning the tide of battle in their favour.

"I don't think we did" agreed Naomi. "I don't think we did too badly for Children in Charge"

**A/N:**

**And so ends Children in Charge 2. I hope that you had as much fun and pleasure reading this as I had writing it. This has been a pleasure to write to be honest as it is different to the Harry Potter and Harry Potter Crossover fics I otherwise write.**

**References:**

**The actions that Naomi takes to disable a Jem'Hadar ship is the same sort of tactic used by the Breen to disable the **_**Defiant**_** before destroying her as well as other allied ships during the Dominion war.**

**Also in the same part, Kellicams is a Klingon term. Most writers use English terms, but I added it for a bit of a difference and authenticity.**

**A third thing in that bit is a little bit of dialogue from the TNG episode "Arsenel of Freedom"**

**The name of the tug that is sent out to bring **_**Voyager**_** back is named after the real life ferry **_**MV Norland**_** – a Falklands War veteran which took most of 2 Para down there (with the original P&O crew CHOOSING to remain aboard… badass or what?).**

**Saghi appeared in DS9 as a girl that spoke to Sisko when the Pah Wraiths sealed the Prophets in the wormhole (she asked him to make the Prophets come back), and spoke to him briefly before his Christopher Pike ceremony. She also spoke to him and Cassidy Yates before their marriage asking to be the Bajoran version of flower girl.**

**The Non Aggression Pact that is mentioned ensured that Bajor was not occupied by the Cardassians a second time during the time the Dominion had DS9 again.**

**If we have any Hunt For Red October fans in the house this evening, then I am sure you'll notice the piece of dialogue when they save Saghi.**

**The appearances of both the **_**Enterprise-A**_** and the **_**Excelsior**_** are nods to the films, but also refer to something mention in a previous chapter when it is said both ships are in the fleet museum.**

**The fleet that brings **_**Voyager**_** home is based on the one seen in Endgame Part 2, but I made it bigger and better – again based on the Falklands War when most of the ships returned to the UK. If you look at footage of the **_**Canberra**_** (in particular) returning, you'll know what I mean!**

**A Bell Book is used to note a ship's arrival into a port. I believe it more a navy thing, though I could be mistaken.**

**#**

**For the first and only time for this fic, I have a list of musical scores for key points in this chapter. (Each one listed with track number and details)**

**Dominion Attack – 11. Battle for Peace (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)**

_**Voyager**_** Gets Engines Working – 3. Clear All Moorings (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)**

**The arrival of the fleet – 9. The Heroes' March (The Last Starfighter)**

_**Voyager**_** docks one more time – 12. Signing Off (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)**

**Looking around the bridge – 10. Dining On Ashes (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)**

**Naomi walks the corridors for the final time – 19. An Ocean of Memories (Titanic)**

**Once again, thank you for taking the time to read this story. Can not wait for your kind reviews as you always give me – well most of you anyway….**

**For the last time, please leave a review on the way out…**

**Regards**

**Pixel**


End file.
